Quote:
Originally Posted by Rusty Hinge[_2_]
In a Norwich soliitor's car park I saw a tree - bushy/small tree growth,
about eight feet high (At present), with long (entire) leaves which
resemble olive leaves in their pubescent pastel effect, though they were
slightly narrower than the olive's.
The fruit is a small pear - around the size of a crab apple, almost
spherical with only a little tapering into the stalk.
Sort of medlar? I asked myself. Nope. The calyx was much too small.
No-one in the office knew, so I took a few pears home.
They retted like a medlar rather than ripened, and the pips had a
quincey look to them. The flesh was pleasantly flavoured (when retted),
but it was littered with gritty nodules which suggested that the tree
was never much use for its fruit.
Anyone any idea what it might be?
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Among wild pears with narrow leaves, there's Pyrus salicifolia, the willow-leafed pear and Pyrus eleagnifolia, the oleaster-leafed pear. Either of those possible?
Eleagnus seems unlikely, the ones I know have a berry with a large stone like an olive, hence names like Russian olive. Persimmon seems unlikely, as they have broad leaves, and one is unlikely I think to describe a persimmon fruit as a pear. One might describe the fruit of Pseudocydonia (Chinese quince) like that, but the rest doesn't hold together.
I saw medlars for sale in a greengrocers on Saturday, first time ever. It was in Glastonbury, one sees all sorts of strange things for sale there.