Pyracantha angustifolia
NPPA pest plant
Environmental Weed (2024)
Common names
orange firethorn, narrowleaf firethorn
Biostatus
Exotic
Category
Vascular
Structural class
Trees & Shrubs - Dicotyledons
Flower colours
White
Detailed description
Evergreen shrub up to 2.5m high. Leaf narrowly oblanceolate to oblong, up to 55 x 10 mm. Dark green and glabrous above, lanate and pale grey-green below, margin slightly recurved, entire or sometimes with a few minute serrations near tip of largest leaves. Corymbs up to approx. 30mm across; pedicels 6~18mm long, grey-tomentose. Sepals triangular, about .8mm long, greyish lanate, acute. Petals obovate or broadly elliptic, 3.5~5mm long, rounded, white. Stamens = petals. Fruit depressed-globose, 4~6 x 6~7mm, glossy orange.
Similar taxa
Can easily be separated from P. crenatoserrata and P. crenulata as it has smaller leaves that are hairy on the undersurface.
Habitat
Terrestrial.
Conservation status
Not applicable
Detailed taxonomy
Family
Ecology
Flowering
December, January
Fruiting
April to August
Year naturalised
1958
Origin
China
Reason for introduction
Ornamental
Life cycle and dispersal
Perennial. Viable seed is uncommon (Edgar and Connor 2000)
Other information
Etymology
angustifolia: From the Latin angustus ‘narrow, constricted’ and folius ‘leaf’, meaning narrow-leaved
National Pest Plant Accord species
This plant is listed in the 2020 National Pest Plant Accord. The National Pest Plant Accord (NPPA) is an agreement to prevent the sale and/or distribution of specified pest plants where either formal or casual horticultural trade is the most significant way of spreading the plant in New Zealand. For up to date information and an electronic copy of the 2020 Pest Plant Accord manual (including plant information and images) visit the MPI website.
Environmental Weed (2024)
This plant is named in a list of 386 environmental weeds in New Zealand 2024 prepared by DOC. 759 candidate species were considered for inclusion on this new comprehensive list of environmental weeds in New Zealand. The species considered were drawn from published lists of weed species, lists of plants that must be reported or managed by law if observed, existing national and regional programmes and agreements for pest management, and species already managed by the Department of Conservation (DOC). Candidate species were then assessed to see if they were fully naturalised and whether they have more than minor impacts in natural ecosystems. Read the full report here.
NVS code
The National Vegetation Survey (NVS) Databank is a physical archive and electronic databank containing records of over 94,000 vegetation survey plots - including data from over 19,000 permanent plots. NVS maintains a standard set of species code abbreviations that correspond to standard scientific plant names from the Ngä Tipu o Aotearoa - New Zealand Plants database.
PYRANG