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Cotoneaster adpressus; photograph Remi Aleksander Nielsen, CC BY, via GBIF CC BYRemi Aleksander Nielsen, CC BY, via GBIF

Cotoneaster adpressus Bois

Creeping cotoneaster

Rosaceae · China South-Central, China North-Central +7

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Cotoneaster adpressus, photograph Remi Aleksander Nielsen, CC BY, via GBIFCotoneaster adpressus, photograph 王天, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIFCotoneaster adpressus, photograph 王天, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIFCotoneaster adpressus, photograph 王天, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIFCotoneaster adpressus, photograph Alf Harry Øygarden, CC BY, via GBIFCotoneaster adpressus, photograph Alf Harry Øygarden, CC BY, via GBIF 14 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
-18.4°C
Record low -28.5 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
15°C
Jul at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
815mm
7 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
24–48DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in your months, northern hemisphere
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
Wet summers: the rain comes June to September, read as a summer growing season. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Cotoneaster adpressus, commonly known as creeping cotoneaster, is a species of flowering plant in the genus Cotoneaster of the family Rosaceae, native to western China. A prostrate, dense, deciduous shrub growing to 2 metres (6 ft 7 in) wide, it has masses of tiny rounded leaves, with white flowers followed by bright scarlet berries. Furthermore, it is cultivated as groundcover in gardens in temperate regions.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Cotoneaster adpressus", CC BY-SA 4.0.

About the genus · Cotoneaster

Cotoneaster is a genus of flowering plants in the rose family, Rosaceae, native to the Palaearctic region, with a strong concentration of diversity in the genus in the mountains of southwestern China and the Himalayas. They are related to hawthorns (Crataegus), firethorns (Pyracantha), photinias (Photinia), and rowans (Sorbus).

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Cotoneaster", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (631 mm of 858 mm) falls in June to September, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 9.5 °C against a yearly mean of 0.4 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: December to March.

Rain

858 mm in the median year at the habitat, 631 mm of it June to September. Wettest month July at 189 mm, driest month December at 5 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 563 mm to 1,868 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 815 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 858 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, northern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 24 to 48 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 20, the highest 90th-percentile month 52).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is -18.4 °C, the absolute minimum -28.5 °C, 12,516 frost nights in 44 years, 284.5 a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 16.7 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low -19.8 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range -24.3 °C to -13.3 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 15.1 °C in July (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: -18.4 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 54 to 64% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Temperature. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected +383 m to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat months, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Cotoneaster adpressus through the yearWarmest month July, mean daily high 15 °C; coldest month January, mean nightly low -19.8 °C; 858 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA; the extremes at the edge from NASA POWER. Habitat months, northern hemisphere.-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°frost16.7° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER-28.5° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400mm rainDLI 24–48RH 54–64%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 24 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low extremes over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, from NASA POWER, marked at the edge, in no month DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C-6 / -11–1-4 / -8–20 / -5–55 / -1–910 / 4–1414 / 9–1715 / 11–1714 / 11–1612 / 8–146 / 3–100 / -6–4-4 / -10–2
Night °C-20 / -24–-13-17 / -21–-11-13 / -17–-8-8 / -12–-5-2 / -6–03 / 0–55 / 3–75 / 3–72 / 0–4-5 / -10–-2-12 / -20–-9-19 / -24–-12
Rain mm6 / 2–349 / 3–4424 / 7–7542 / 16–9681 / 38–169139 / 81–270189 / 137–368179 / 129–364124 / 83–26651 / 14–979 / 3–215 / 3–21
DLI26 / 22–3233 / 28–3841 / 35–4647 / 37–5148 / 37–5241 / 33–4737 / 30–4535 / 29–4133 / 24–3831 / 23–3726 / 23–3224 / 20–30
RH %55 / 47–6357 / 44–6356 / 45–6358 / 47–6459 / 50–6562 / 54–7063 / 58–7263 / 59–7264 / 58–7060 / 52–6657 / 50–6654 / 48–63
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 24 grid cells holding the 25 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 1197:5636 (30.125, 101.825). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -28.5 °C, 1st-percentile night -18.4 °C, 99th-percentile day 16.7 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 24 distinct grid cells holding 25 of the 25 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1197:5636 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 30.00_101.875, lapse-corrected +383 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 4331 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeChina South-Central, China North-Central, Qinghai, Tibet, Assam, East Himalaya, Nepal, West Himalaya, Myanmar · introduced: Great Britain, Norway, Germany, Switzerland, New York · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker29.914, 102.235 · in the densest population, 208 records (70% of those in range)
Kew's description“shrub” · “temperate” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 298 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 25 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 148 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 42 km away. 159 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 273 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 4° block of the 298 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Cotoneaster adpressus, photograph 1did not loadCotoneaster adpressus, photograph 2did not loadCotoneaster adpressus, photograph 3did not loadCotoneaster adpressus, photograph 4did not loadCotoneaster adpressus, photograph 5did not loadCotoneaster adpressus, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: Remi Aleksander Nielsen, CC BY, via GBIF; 王天, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIF (3); Alf Harry Øygarden, CC BY, via GBIF (2).

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Abies squamata Abies squamata Flaky fir Photo: CC BY, Wang.QGLigularia przewalskii Ligularia przewalskii Przewalski's Leopard-Plant Photo: CC BY, Martin PaliochaGeranium pylzowianum Geranium pylzowianum Geraniaceae Photo: CC0, author not stated Spenceria ramalana Rosaceae Rhododendron przewalskii Ericaceae Morina alba Caprifoliaceae

Other Cotoneaster 101 in the reference

Cotoneaster acuminatus Cotoneaster acuminatus Acuminate cotoneaster Photo: CC BY, Sagnik Dutta RoyCotoneaster acutifolius Cotoneaster acutifolius Peking cotoneaster Photo: CC BY, Jane CharlenCotoneaster affinis Cotoneaster affinis Purpleberry cotoneaster Photo: CC BY, jamie-aaCotoneaster alaunicus Cotoneaster alaunicus Rosaceae Photo: CC BY, Fyodor PudovikovCotoneaster ambiguus Cotoneaster ambiguus Ambiguous Cotoneaster Photo: CC BY-SA, Jens KristiansenCotoneaster apiculatus Cotoneaster apiculatus Cranberry cotoneaster Photo: CC BY, Jacy ChenCotoneaster armenus Cotoneaster armenus Rosaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Krzysztof Ziarnek, KenraizCotoneaster ascendens Cotoneaster ascendens Ascending Cotoneaster Photo: CC0, author not stated Cotoneaster beimashanensis Rosaceae Cotoneaster bradyi Brady's Cotoneaster Cotoneaster bullatus Cotoneaster bullatus Hollyberry cotoneaster Photo: CC BY, Rosy Thomson Cotoneaster bumthangensis Rosaceae all 102 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Cotoneaster adpressus var. praecox; Cotoneaster disticha var. duthieana; Cotoneaster horizontalis var. adpressus; Cotoneaster kerstanii; Cotoneaster nanchuanicus and 6 more. (GBIF Backbone)

Kew accepts as species of their own Cotoneaster nan-shan: older names in GBIF's record of this species that Kew's World Checklist accepts as other species. (WCVP, RBG Kew, file of 2026-06-04)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Rosaceae
Described by
Bois
Native to
China South-Central, China North-Central, Qinghai +6
Wild records
298 in range · 148 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-21
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-21
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-21
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-21names fetched 2026-10-21
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 34 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (26 at a botanic garden or arboretum, 2 at a herbarium, 6 at a zoo; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-21
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-21NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 30.00_101.875, lapse-corrected +383 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-21IPNI and POWO linked by Kew's number for Cotoneaster adpressus Bois (the item's: IPNI 722396-1, POWO 722395-1)
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-21
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild nothing to reportasked 2026-10-22from iNaturalist's open data of 2026-09-27: research-grade observations with an open-licence photograph, the 24 whose photographs iNaturalist received last (the open data holds no votes); filled 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-21
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 56 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

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