IDENTIFICATION

Scientific name:

Pyracantha coccinea

Italian common name:

Piracanta, Agazzino

Family:

Rosaceae

Origin:

Eurasia

Environment:

Mediterranean coasts

Evergreen or deciduous:

Evergreen

Toxicity:

the fruits are not toxic but the seeds are to humans.

PLANT RECOGNITION

Height:

3 m.

Width (extension):

3 m.

Habit:

shrubby with slightly drooping stems.

Leaf:

small, dark green, oval, shiny and leathery.

Flower:

small star-shaped, white in colour, gathered in corymbs

Flowering:

from May to June

Fruit:

The fruit is a small spherical apple of 5-8 mm, glabrous, edible, crowned at the apex by the remains of the calyx, coral red, orange or yellow depending on the variety, from June to September.

Birds love these berries, while to the human palate they are bitter.

Stem:

thin and erect dark brown

Property:

shrubby with slightly drooping stems.

Perfume:

yes intense

NEEDS

Maintenance:

low

Light Exposure:

full sun If it is placed in partial shade it lives well but produces fewer flowers and therefore fewer berries.

Soil type:

preferably sandy, therefore well drained. If planted in too fertile soil it could be more susceptible to diseases.

Soil acidity:

neutral or alkaline

Italian climatic area:

all of Italy except Alto Adige and Sicily.

Need for water:

rainwater is enough.

Propagation:

for semi-hardwood cuttings. By seed only if you have the right seeds because most of the plants purchased are sterile.

Diseases:

Woolly aphids (Eriosoma lanigerum)

between April and October; the leaf miner is a moth whose caterpillars feed on leaves;

fire blight (Erwinia amylovora)

which lives on the bark and enters through wounds or broken branches. There is no cure other than trying to eliminate the dead parts by burning them;

fungal disease of flowers, leaves and fruits (Venturia inaequalis f. sp. Pyracanthae)

fungus for which a fungicide is used but the ventilation of the plant should also be improved.

Pruning:

Pyracantha coccinea grows quickly and is one of those plants that flowers on the previous year’s branches (see the article “Pruning ornamental plants: Plants“). In summary, it should be pruned at the end of flowering if it weren’t for the beautiful colored berries that remain throughout the winter. We therefore recommend pruning it before the vegetative restart at the end of the frosts (late February, early March) leaving part of the old branch.

PARTICULARITY

The name of the plant derives from Pyros which in Greek means fire and acantha che means thorn. coccinea from coccinus which means scarlet.

The plant is thorny because it has long 5 cm thick and sharp thorns which makes it an excellent defensive hedge plant.

Annotations:

it also tolerates pollution and saltiness and rather prolonged periods of drought.

Due to the very dense and intricate arrangement of the branches in Puracantha coccinea and the small leaves collected in groups, this plant lends itself very well to topiary art (see the article “Topiary art“), i.e. pruning into geometric shapes or anthropomorphic.

In the kitchen:

no use