Shrub or small tree to about 5 m tall. Branches wide-spreading, with spines to about 3 cm long. Leaves hairless, ovate to obovate, wedge-shaped at the base, with 3(5) mostly toothed lobes. Stipules toothed. Flowers white,mostly 1.5-2 cm wide, in clusters of 5-12. Stamens 20, with red anthers; styles 2-3. Fruit scarlet, slightly flattened, 1-2 cm long; seeds mostly 2. Syn. c. oxyacantha of authors not l.

Europe, N Africa.

ACT: Griffith (Furneaux St); Manuka (shops, Flinders Way).

Source: Spencer, R. (2002). Rosaceae. In: Spencer, R.. Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 3. Flowering plants. Dicotyledons. Part 2. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.