''Pyrus spinosa'' (syn. ''Pyrus amygdaliformis''), the almond-leaved pear, is a species 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 ...

in the family

Rosaceae Rosaceae (), the rose family, is a family of flowering plants that includes 4,828 known species in 91 genera. The name is derived from the type genus '' Rosa''. The family includes herbs, shrubs, and trees. Most species are deciduous, but som ...

, native to the northern

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 ...

region. It has white flowers which bloom in April–May. The fruits are bitter and astringent. It hybridizes easily with ''

Pyrus communis ''Pyrus communis'', the common pear, is a species of pear native plant, native to central and eastern Europe, and western Asia. It is one of the most important fruits of temperate regions, being the species from which most orchard pear cultivars ...

'' and '' Pyrus pyraster''.

Description

''Pyrus spinosa'' is a spiny

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 ...

or 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 ...

reaching up to about 6 m in height. Young twigs are initially covered in a dense, white woolly hair (), but become smooth and hairless () as they mature. Its leaves are narrow and variable in shape—ranging from (lance‑shaped) or (oval) to (egg‑shaped with the broader end toward the tip)—and measure about 2.5–5.0 cm long (occasionally up to 7 cm) by 1–2 cm wide (occasionally up to 3 cm). The margin is usually (smooth) but may bear shallow, rounded teeth (crenations) near the tip. Leaves may be sessile (attached directly) or carried on short stalks () up to 2 cm long. When young, the lower surface of each leaf is white‑villous, later becoming smooth on both sides. In spring, the species produces many‑flowered clusters () whose stalks and are covered in greyish, matted hairs (). Individual flowers are 2.0–2.5 cm across, with five white surrounding a cup‑shaped

hypanthium In angiosperms, a hypanthium or floral cup is a structure where basal portions of the Sepal, calyx, the petal, corolla, and the stamens form a cup-shaped tube. It is sometimes called a floral tube, a term that is also used for corolla tube and cal ...

. By mid to late summer, the plant bears small pomes (pear‑like fruits) 2–3 cm in diameter. The fruit is nearly spherical (), yellowish‑brown when ripe, and retains its lobes at the tip. Each fruit is borne singly on a stout, stiff stalk () 2–3 cm long.

Habitat and distribution

''Pyrus spinosa'' is native to the Mediterranean region, with a core range extending through southern Europe into western

Anatolia Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...

. It typically grows in dry, open forests and

scrubland Shrubland, scrubland, scrub, brush, or bush is a plant community characterized by vegetation dominance (ecology), dominated by shrubs, often also including grasses, herbaceous plant, herbs, and geophytes. Shrubland may either occur naturally o ...

s on well‑drained, rocky slopes and at

woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with woody plants (trees and shrubs), or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the '' plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunli ...

margins, favouring elevations of 1000–2000 m where it often occurs alongside

oak An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisp ...

s and other drought‑tolerant shrubs. Although principally recorded from Europe and Anatolia,

herbarium A herbarium (plural: herbaria) is a collection of preserved plant biological specimen, specimens and associated data used for scientific study. The specimens may be whole plants or plant parts; these will usually be in dried form mounted on a sh ...

collections from two sites in western Iran—close to the Turkish border in the

Zagros Mountains The Zagros Mountains are a mountain range in Iran, northern Iraq, and southeastern Turkey. The mountain range has a total length of . The Zagros range begins in northwestern Iran and roughly follows Iran's western border while covering much of s ...

—confirm its presence there, representing an eastward extension of its known distribution.

References

{{Taxonbar, from1=Q2294122, from2=Q22114303 spinosa Flora of Spain Flora of France Flora of Corsica Flora of Italy Flora of Sardinia Flora of Sicily Flora of Yugoslavia Flora of Albania Flora of Bulgaria Flora of Greece Flora of European Turkey Flora of Turkey Plants described in 1775