Habitat

• native to Japan
• zone 5

Habit and Form

• a small, deciduous shrub
• up to 3' tall
• widespreading, dense branches
• medium summer texture, coarse winter texture
• medium growth rate

Summer Foliage

• alternate leaf arrangement
• simple, deciduous leaves
• obovate leaf shape
• 1" to 2" long
• coarsely, serrated leaf margins
• stipules
• dark green leaf color

Autumn Foliage

• not ornamentally important

Flowers

• bright orangy-red flowers
• 1.5" in diameter
• blooms early spring, possibly even late winter
• showy

Fruit

• yellow green pome
• an apple-like fruit
• 1.5" in diameter
• not ornamentally showy
• can be used to make preserves if harvested in October

Bark

• dark gray stems, glabrous and spiny
• thin stems with a somewhat zigzag pattern
• lenticels

Culture

• an adaptable, easy to grow shrub
• tolerant of dry soils
• full sun needed for best ornamental display, although tolerant of partial shade
• periodic rejunvenation pruning can enhance the plants ornamental performance
• avoid high pH soil which will result in chlorosis

Landscape Use

• useful for early spring flower display
• single season ornamental appeal should restrict its use to more difficult sites
• shrub borders
• hedges
• mass plantings

Liabilities

• apple scab can cause significant defoliation by mid-summer
• scale, mites and aphids can be problematic
• chlorosis on high pH soils
• twigginess and thorns collect leaves and garbage
• fireblight
• no fall color
• flower bud injury in cold winters
• single season ornamental appeal
• rabbit damage
• partial or sporadic fall bloom (not enough to be showy)

ID Features

• imbricate, sessile brown buds
• red-bronze new growth
• apple-like pome fruit
• showy flowers in April

Propagation

• summer cuttings root easily
• seed requires cold stratification

Cultivars/Varieties

See listings of Chaenomeles cultivars on the page for C. speciosa.