''Mespilus'', commonly called medlar, is a genus of

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed with ...

s in the family Rosaceae containing the single species '' Mespilus germanica'' of southwest

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

. It is also found in some countries in the Balkans, especially in Albanian, Macedonian and Bulgarian regions, and in western parts of Caucasian Georgia. A second proposed species, '' Mespilus canescens'', discovered in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

in 1990, proved to be a hybrid between ''M. germanica'' and one or more species of hawthorn, and is properly known as ''

× Crataemespilus × ''Crataemespilus'' (or ''Cratae-mespilus'') is the generic name applied to hybrid (biology), hybrids between the genera ''Crataegus'' and ''Mespilus''. It should not be confused with + Crataegomespilus, + ''Crataegomespilus'', which is applied ...

canescens''.

Plant

''Mespilus'' forms

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and botany, the term deciduous () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed Leaf, leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...

large

shrub A shrub or bush is a small to medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees by their multiple ...

s to small

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, e.g., including only woody plants with secondary growth, only ...

s growing up to tall. The fruit is a matte brown pome.

History

''Mespilus germanica'' is apparently native only to southwest Asia and southeastern Europe, i.e. near the Black Sea coast and western

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

, and Asia Minor, as well as the Caucasus and northern Iran, but it has an ancient history of cultivation and wild plants exist in a much wider area; it was grown by the ancient

Greeks Greeks or Hellenes (; , ) are an ethnic group and nation native to Greece, Greek Cypriots, Cyprus, Greeks in Albania, southern Albania, Greeks in Turkey#History, Anatolia, parts of Greeks in Italy, Italy and Egyptian Greeks, Egypt, and to a l ...

and Romans, beginning in the second century BC. It was a very popular fruit in Western Europe during the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

, but has fallen out of favour there.

Extant Species

Related plants

Within the subfamily Amygdaloideae, ''Mespilus'' is most closely related to ''

Crataegus ''Crataegus'' (), commonly called hawthorn, quickthorn, thornapple, Voss, E. G. 1985. ''Michigan Flora: A guide to the identification and occurrence of the native and naturalized seed-plants of the state. Part II: Dicots (Saururaceae–Cornacea ...

'', '' Amelanchier'', '' Peraphyllum'', and '' Malacomeles''. Many authors group ''Mespilus'' together with ''Crataegus'' in a single genus. When thus combined, the correct species name is ''Crataegus germanica'' (L.) Kuntze. The common name “snowy mespilus” attaches to certain species of ''Amelanchier'', notably '' Amelanchier × lamarckii'' and '' Amelanchier ovalis''. The genus '' Eriobotrya'' was once considered to be closely related to ''Mespilus''. The loquat, one of several ''Eriobotrya'' species, was formerly thought to be closely related to the genus ''Mespilus'', and is still sometimes known in some European countries as a medlar and is still sometimes called the "Japanese medlar".

Fruit

''Mespilus germanica'' features an unusual apple-like fruit. In southern Europe, the medlar fruit ripen fully and can be eaten off the tree, but in northern climates, they require bletting to eat. This process involves ripening fruit off the tree, usually in a bowl, until soft. Each fruit contains a half dozen or so hard, irregularly shaped seeds that require stratification to germinate. Many cultivars exist, and they are increasingly popular selections carried by perennial and edible landscaping nurseries in North America.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q148723 Rosaceae genera