This is a small deciduous species of tree or shrub that is introduced from Europe and is found occasionally in southwestern BC.

General:
Large shrub to tree, 5-15 m tall; branches sometimes with thorn-like leaf-spurs, the twigs and buds becoming smooth; bark fissured, scaly.

Leaves:
Alternate, deciduous, elliptic to egg-shaped, 5-10 cm long, finely blunt-toothed to nearly entire, abruptly short-pointed at the tip, hairy when young, becoming smooth.

Flowers:
Inflorescence a short umbel-like cluster, on a lateral branchlet, of 4 to 12 long-stalked flowers; corollas white, bowl-shaped, the petals 5, egg-shaped to circular, 10-15 mm long; calyces 5-lobed, the lobes triangular, 5 mm long; ovaries inferior; stamens 20-30.

Fruits:
Fleshy pomes (pears), pear- to globe-shaped, 2-4 cm or more long (much larger in cultivated forms), 2-5 chambered, the calyx-lobes persisting, the flesh with grit cells.

Source:  The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia

If more than one illustration is available for a species (e.g., separate illustrations were provided for two subspecies) then links to the separate images will be provided below. Note that individual subspecies or varietal illustrations are not always available.

Illustration Source:  The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia

Flower Colour:
White

Blooming Period:
Early Spring

Fruit/Seed characteristics:
Colour: Yellow
Present over the Summer

Source:  The USDA