Pyrus coronaria L. [Malus coronaria Mill.]
HABIT.—Often a bushy shrub, but frequently a small tree 15-25 feet high, with a trunk 8-12 inches in diameter; forming a broad, rounded crown of rigid, contorted branches bearing many short, spur-like branchlets.
LEAVES.—Alternate, simple, 3-4 inches long, almost as broad; ovate to nearly triangular; sharply and deeply serrate, sometimes lobed; membranaceous; bright green above, paler beneath, glabrous both sides; petioles long, slender, often with two dark glands near the middle.
FLOWERS.—May, after the leaves; perfect; 1-1/2-2 inches across; very fragrant; borne on slender pedicels in 5-6-flowered umbels; calyx urn-shaped, 5-lobed, tomentose; petals 5, rose colored to white; stamens 10-20; ovary hairy; styles 5.
FRUIT.—October; a depressed-globose pome, 1-1-1/2 inches in diameter, pale green, very fragrant, with a waxy surface.
WINTER-BUDS.—Terminal bud 1/8-1/4 inch long, obtuse, bright red; lateral buds smaller.
BARK.—Twigs at first hoary-tomentose, becoming glabrous, red-brown; thin, red-brown, breaking into longitudinal fissures on the trunk.
WOOD.—Heavy, rather soft, close-grained, weak, red-brown, with thick, yellow sapwood.
DISTRIBUTION.—Southern portion of the Lower Peninsula as far north as Roscommon County.
HABITAT.—Rich, moist, but well-drained soil in thickets and along streams.