View source for Mespilus

{{Treatment/ID
|accepted_name=Mespilus
|accepted_authority=Linnaeus
|publications={{Treatment/Publication
|title=Sp. Pl.
|place=1: 478. 1753
|year=1753
}}{{Treatment/Publication
|title=Gen. Pl. ed.
|place=5, 214. 1754
|year=1754
}}
|common_names=Medlar
|special_status={{Treatment/ID/Special_status
|code=I
|label=Introduced
}}
|basionyms=
|synonyms={{Treatment/ID/Synonym
|name=Crataegus sect. Mespilus
|authority=(Linnaeus) T. A. Dickinson & E. Y. Y. Lo
}}
|hierarchy=Rosaceae;Rosaceae subfam. Amygdaloideae;Rosaceae tribe Gillenieae;Mespilus
|hierarchy_nav=<div class="higher-taxa"><div class="higher-taxon"><small>family</small>[[Rosaceae]]</div><div class="higher-taxon"><small>subfamily</small>[[Rosaceae subfam. Amygdaloideae]]</div><div class="higher-taxon"><small>tribe</small>[[Rosaceae tribe Gillenieae]]</div><div class="higher-taxon"><small>genus</small>[[Mespilus]]</div></div>
|etymology=Greek mesos, half, and pilos, felt or ball, perhaps alluding to shape of medlar fruit resembling half a ball
|volume=Volume 9
|mention_page=page 20, 428, 445, 469, 494
|treatment_page=page 643
}}<!--

--><span class="statement" id="st-undefined" data-properties=""><b>Shrubs </b>or trees, 40–70 dm. <b>Stems</b> 1–few, ± erect; bark grayish, smooth, with numerous small horizontal lenticels, older rough, dark gray-brown; short shoots absent or present; armed or unarmed, compound thorns on trunk absent; extending twigs canescent. <b>Leaves</b> deciduous, cauline, simple; stipules caducous, free, ± elliptic, herbaceous, margins entire or lobed, asymmetric, ± pilose; petiole present; blade narrowly oblong or narrowly elliptic to oblanceolate, rarely oblong-ovate, 5–12 cm, thin, margins flat, entire or finely serrate distally, venation camptodromous, surfaces ± pubescent. <b>Inflorescences</b> terminal on leafy short shoots, these terminal on woody short shoots or arising directly from extension shoots, 1(or 2)-flowered, axes canescent; bracts present; bracteoles present, caducous or persistent, ± linear, 5–15 mm, membranous to coriaceous, abaxially ± hairy, eglandular. <b>Pedicels</b> present, short. <b>Flowers</b>: perianth and androecium epigynous, 25–35 mm diam.; hypanthium ± obconic, constricted apically, size not recorded, externally canescent; sepals 5, spreading, triangular; petals 5, white, usually suborbiculate, base barely clawed, apex ± notched; stamens 25–35(–40), shorter than petals; carpels 5, connate, adnate to hypanthium, styles 5, subterminal, distinct; ovules 2, superposed. <b>Fruits</b> pomes, brownish, turbinate to subspheric, 15–40 mm diam. (larger in some cultivars), rough, punctate, glabrous or pubescent; hypanthium persistent; sepals persistent, erect to ± connivent, bases not touching; carpels woody; styles ± persistent, emerging through disc. <b>Pyrenes</b> 5, sides plane, covered by disc. <b>x</b> = 17.</span><!--

-->{{Treatment/Body
|distribution=Wash.;Eurasia.
|discussion=<p>Species 1.</p><!--
--><p>The Eurasian <i>Mespilus germanica</i> is a minor fruit, occasionally cultivated and naturalized in North America. <i>Mespilus</i> is retained here in the traditional concept of <i>M. germanica</i>, because it is distinct on a variety of characteristics and has a sister position to <i>Crataegus</i> (C. S. Campbell et al. 2007; E. Y. Y. Lo et al. 2007; D. Potter et al. 2007; Li Q. Y. et al. 2012; Lo and M. J. Donoghue 2012). Reproductive woody short shoots with close internodes, normal in <i>Crataegus</i>, occur frequently, though not universally; in the latter case, the inflorescence is borne on an annual short shoot lateral to or terminal on an extension shoot. Other notable characteristics of <i>Mespilus</i> that distinguish it from <i>Crataegus</i> include brownish fruit indicating mammal dispersal (C. M. Herrera 1989); large, hairy, eglandular bracteoles; extremely wide hypanthial opening in fruit; pyrenes covered by tissue of disc; and erect to connivent foliaceous fruiting sepals with bases distinct. <i>Mespilus</i> characters rarely seen in <i>Crataegus</i> are uniflorous inflorescences (found in <i>C. uniflora</i>); inflorescences borne on annual short shoots as noted above, very large flowers and stamens 25–35 (found in <i>C. triflora</i>).</p><!--
--><p>The triploid ×Crataemespilus canescens (J. B. Phipps) J. B. Phipps (<i>Mespilus</i> canescens J. B. Phipps), is a plant with great horticultural potential. It is a large bush with numerous fasciculate stems; exfoliating bark; simple, nearly entire leaves; 2–6-flowered, semipendant, usually racemose, inflorescences that are commonly borne on short shoots of the season lateral to an extension shoot; flowers very like <i>M. germanica</i> in size and general appearance, but with fewer stamens; small bright red, hawthornlike fruit; large, abaxially hairy bracteoles with scattered very large marginal glands. A substantial colony has existed at one site in Arkansas.</p>
|tables=
|references={{Treatment/Reference
|id=baird1989a
|text=Baird, J. R. and J. W. Thieret. 1989. The medlar (Mespilus germancia, Rosaceae) from antiquity to obscurity. Econ. Bot. 43: 328–372.
}}{{Treatment/Reference
|id=li2012a
|text=Li, Q. Y. et al. 2012. Generic limits of Pyrinae: Insights from ribosomal DNA sequences. Bot. Stud. 53: 151–164.
}}{{Treatment/Reference
|id=lo2012a
|text=Lo, E. Y. Y. and M. J. Donoghue. 2012. Expanded phylogenetic and dating analyses of the apples and their relatives (Pyreae, Rosaceae). Molec. Phylogen. Evol. 63: 230–243.
}}{{Treatment/Reference
|id=phipps1991a
|text=Phipps, J. B. et al. 1991. Isozyme evidence for the naturalness of Mespilus L. (Rosaceae, subfam. Maloideae). Syst. Bot. 16: 546–552.
}}{{Treatment/Reference
|id=phipps2003a
|text=Phipps, J. B. et al. 2003. Hawthorns and Medlars. Portland.
}}
}}<!--

--><!--

-->{{#Taxon:
name=Mespilus
|author=James B. Phipps
|authority=Linnaeus
|rank=genus
|parent rank=tribe
|synonyms=Crataegus sect. Mespilus
|basionyms=
|family=Rosaceae
|illustrator=Barbara Alongi
|distribution=Wash.;Eurasia.
|introduced=true
|reference=baird1989a;li2012a;lo2012a;phipps1991a;phipps2003a
|publication title=Sp. Pl.;Gen. Pl. ed.
|publication year=1753;1754
|special status=Introduced
|source xml=https://jpend@bitbucket.org/aafc-mbb/fna-data-curation.git/src/8f726806613d60c220dc4493de13607dd3150896/coarse_grained_fna_xml/V9/V9_1109.xml
|subfamily=Rosaceae subfam. Amygdaloideae
|tribe=Rosaceae tribe Gillenieae
|genus=Mespilus
}}<!--

-->[[Category:Treatment]][[Category:Rosaceae tribe Gillenieae]]