Nispero

Mespilus germanica, known as the medlar or common medlar, is a large shrub or small tree in the rose family Rosaceae. Generally, it is shorter and nispero shrub-like than tree-like.

60 years, the tree is rather short-lived. Its bark is grayish brown with deep vertical cracks forming rectangular plates that tend to lift off. In the cultivated forms, the thorns are usually reduced or even completely absent. In general, the medlar is a small, deciduous tree with an overhanging, almost round crown. The roots are heavily branched and far-ranging, with a somewhat fibrous root system. The wood has a fine texture, but is very hard. It has a white, slightly pink-tinted sapwood.

The annual rings are clearly visible. They have five elongated, narrow sepals and five free, white or pale pink petals. Sexual reproduction is the norm in wild forms of the medlar. The resulting seeds have a germination capacity lasting from 18 to 20 months. The seeds are distributed by various animals such as birds, squirrels and deer. The flower has long sepals that remain on the fruit. The sepals are behind the petals.

However, in 1990, a new species was discovered in North America, now named M. 23 taxa are distinguished, also compromising wild or semi-wild forms, ornamental and of different origin. The cultivar ‘Nottingham’ has gained the Royal Horticultural Society’s Award of Garden Merit. For a time it was assumed that it was a species with narrow genetic resources and therefore subject to high risks of genetic erosion, whereby the limited evolution of M. German’, although the species is indigenous to other areas.

From an extensive study of literature and plant specimens, Kazimierz Browicz concluded that the true homeland of M. The species requires temperate and sub-mediterranean climate conditions with warm summers and mild winters. In plantations, the larvae of the leaf-mining butterfly species Lithocolletis blancardella can cause damage. Furthermore, especially in years with high precipitation, the fungus Monilia fructigena can be a problem. It causes brown blemishes on the fruit and continues to spread until the fruit becomes entirely rotten.