Pyracantha coccinea / Piracanta

Origin: Southern Europe, Asia.

Botanical characteristics: It is an evergreen shrub with upright, much-branched growth habit, whose branches are very thorny. Leaves are small, ovate-lanceolate, with entire or finely toothed margin towards the apex with a beautiful dark glossy green. In late spring and early summer it has a beautiful flowering with abundant small white flowers grouped in corymbs. In autumn many clusters of red, persistent, very decorative berries follow the flowering.

Agronomic and environmental characteristics: It is native on the peninsular Italy, in Liguria in evergreen forests, hedges. In Northern Italy it is cultivated and naturalized. It grows well on any fertile soil with full sun or partial shade exposure and has an high degree of resistance to pollution.

Use: It is one of the best defensive plants suitable for hedges, both formal and free. It is interesting for flowering and ornamental berries during the winter season and it is used as ornamental plant in parks and gardens, singly or in groups and mixed hedges. It is excellent for urban green areas, especially for hedges, fences, shrubby, consolidation of road embankments and for tempering of uncultivated, ruined, hilly areas. It is suitable for pots and planters.