Hello Rose, I am surprised that same myth is used in our hometown, Bariloche, . I just checked out with wikipedia and as far I can understand botanists are still keeping Pyracantha apart from Cotoneaster. Locally the Pryracantha are also used as trimmed hedges since they quite large prickly uninviting thorns. They definitely attract birds in winter. They do very well with cool winters and can survive even -20°C. I may even want to add perhaps a yellow fruited cultivar that will go well with my Cornus stolonifera ( that is yellow twigged in winter). Cotoneasters are all thornless. My 1977 ed. of Hillier's manual of trees and shrubs quotes" this important genus includes amongst its members some of the most indispensable of hardy ornamental shrubs"(p.84) and then goes on listing species and cvs. reaching somewhere into 70 or more
. I'm sure that my Armenian grandmothers would have made its fruit into some sort of jelly or marmalade. This fall I will venture into that!
