Franchet Cotoneaster
Cotoneaster franchetti
Rose family
Where is it from?
- Franchet cotoneaster was introduced as an ornamental from central Asia.
Where are you likely to find it?
- Cotoneasters are shrubs popular in landscaping, but Franchet cotoneaster
and silverleaf cotoneaster (Cotoneaster pannosa) escape from
cultivation in northwestern California. Of the two, Franchet cotoneaster
invades the native vegetation much more aggressively.
- Franchet cotoneaster thrives and produces abundant berry crops in vacant
lots, along roadsides, fencelines, and in the native coastal scrub.
This cotoneaster also tolerates shade, invading coastal alder, spruce,
and redwood forests and producing berries.
- Most of the cotoneaster established in the Redwood National and State Parks
is near the developed areas and abandoned homesteads from which it spread.
- Only isolated individuals are found more widely dispersed elsewhere
throughout the parks at the present time.
What makes it a "BAD" plant?
Cotoneaster alters ecosystem functions:
- It competes aggressively for light and physical space, displacing native shrubs,
such as thimbleberry, huckleberry and salal.
- It fruits in winter (rather than summer and fall like the native shrubs),
attracting wintering birds to eat the berries and to selectively spread
cotoneaster seed in their droppings.
How do you get rid of it?
- Pull seedlings by hand and remove larger plants with tools or equipment.
- Mature plants can reach 15 feet tall and 20 feet wide. To remove large
plants, first cut off the limbs. Then dig out the base with a shovel
or backhoe. Stumps and shallow roots resprout unless dug out.
- Residual seed will likely germinate and re-infest the site, so schedule a
follow up to pull them out. Most seedlings germinate the first year.
What can you do to help?
- Distinguish between the invasive Franchet cotoneaster and non-invasive
ornamentals.
- Remove invasive cotoneasters from your land.
- Help control cotoneasters in the Redwood National and State Parks.
Sign up as a Volunteer in Parks (VIP).
- CAUTION: Do not remove plants without permission
in writing or direction from the land owner, manager or,
if on public lands, an agency official.
