A deciduous fruit tree with ovate leaves edged with bristle-tipped teeth. Flowers in spring before or with the leaves, white five-petalled, six to nine in umbel-like racemes with purple-red anthers, the whole tree white; the round brown or yellow speckled fruit is the sand pear or nashi, grouped with the cultivars of other species as the Asian pear.
Habitat
Orchards, village surroundings, hillsides and river valleys, widely cultivated, wild in the hills of southern China and northern Indochina.
Distribution
Native to southern China and northern Indochina and introduced to Korea, Japan and the rest of the world; widely grown south of the Yangtze in China, and Japan is a major pear region (Tottori's Nijisseiki, Chiba and others); absent from Singapore.
Season and behaviour
Flowers in March and April for about a week, around the time of the peach; fruit from August to October.
Photography tips
These are the FilmAnalysis editors' notes, not content from the sources.
A tree white with flowers needs cloud or soft light to keep the petals' detail, half a stop under; close up the purple-red anthers are the only colour in the white flower, so the macro aims at them. Rows of white in an orchard compress against distant hills with a long lens, and the trellis structure of a Japanese pear orchard is a geometric subject in itself.
Photographic styles
A spring tree white all over; macro of purple-red anthers.
Similar species
Pyrus bretschneideri and P. ussuriensis (the northern pears, similar flowers, different leaves and fruit); apple blossom (pink-tinged, yellow anthers); plum and cherry (yellow anthers, different pedicels).
Related badge
None yet. No validated photo recognition exists for this species, so no badge is tied to it: a name in the encyclopedia is not evidence in a photograph.
The illustration is original FilmAnalysis artwork. No photographs yet: only photos cleared for commercial use with credit will be added.
Why it is listed: this species comes from the Flower checklist (GBIF backbone and Wikidata verified). Names follow the GBIF backbone and Wikidata; the facts follow the sources below; photo recognition is not offered.
