Family: roses (Rosaceae)
Flowering time: April–May
Size: 1–2 m
Habitat: rocky outcrops and sun-facing shrub slopes
Hairy Cotoneaster (Cotoneaster tomentosus) is an upright shrub with sturdy shoots. Its dark brown branches are clothed with simple, entire-margined leaves, which are densely hairy on both sides. Thick, oblong to oval leaves are 2–7 cm long and 2–5 cm wide. Five-petaled flowers with an underdeveloped ovary are always smaller than 1 cm in diameter. Usually they are grouped in inflorescences at the tops of lateral shoots consisting of 3 to 12 small flowers.
Pink to white petals are about as long as the sepals. The flower stalks, sepals and small brick-red fruits are woolly-haired. Hairy Cotoneaster grows on sunny slopes on carbonate bedrock. It is more common in the northwest and north of Slovenia; toward the south it is increasingly rare, and in the far northeast of the country it has not been found.
