Cotoneaster simonsii Baker, Himalayan Cotoneaster
Account Summary
Introduction, neophyte, an occasional garden escape.
March 1989; Northridge, R.H.; Conagher Upper Td.
March to December.
This Himalayan shrub was not recorded in Fermanagh until 1989. Although it may simply have been previously overlooked, more probably this now quite common bird-sown garden escape really is increasing in the survey area. To date, it has only occurred as single plants in Fermanagh, but it is regularly found in natural vegetation and some sites are quite remote from habitation. The Fermanagh Flora Database now contains 17 records from ten tetrads, habitats ranging from scrub on cliffs and in quarries, to roadside hedges, a ruined castle and a bridge.
Elsewhere, C. simonsii has generally become rather common and widespread in B & I, at least in the more gardened lowlands with higher population densities, but also to some extent in their immediate rural surrounds (D.J. McCosh, in: Preston et al. 2002).
First recorded in the wild in Britain in 1910, C. simonsii is now very common and widespread in SW England and in W Wales, plus the more populous areas of Scotland. In Ireland, it is rather more thinly although widely scattered, except around the Belfast and south Co Down conurbation, where it has become locally very common. It has also been reported as widespread and sometimes becoming well-established in Co Waterford where it was first recorded in 1987. Here again, it occurs in a range of open habitats including along disused railways, rides in conifer plantations, in open broad-leaved woods, on field banks and walls, in hedges, on rock faces, waste ground and in rocky areas (Green 2008).
Fermanagh Occurence
Threats
Potentially this neophyte could become a nuisance if it invaded a nature reserve, but generally, it is too infrequent to pose any real threat to native species.