Friends of Belfast Botanic Gardens

Tree of the month series - this series of short articles about trees in the Belfast Botanic Gardens is compiled by members of the Friends group and Gardens staff. The series will gradually build up to a comprehensive archive of information about the trees in Belfast Botanic gardens. Each article will illustrate the tree in Belfast together with information from a range of sources elsewhere. Click here for the rest of the trees

Tree of the Month, October 2007

Medlar - Mespilus germanica

by Barbara Pilcher
The medlar is a curious tree but one which has had a fascination since ancient times. Originating in south western Asia and thought to have been introduced to Britain, along with the fig, the sweet chestnut and walnut, by the Romans, the medlar has managed to retain its mysterious, not quite benign, character down to the present day. Polite society where the fruit would have been served as a sweetmeat would have eschewed the robust vernacular names of ‘openarse’ and ‘dog’s arse’, descriptive terms if you examine the blossom end of the fruit.
This member of the rose family makes an attractive garden tree eventually reaching to 6 metres with an individual shape which becomes gnarled and interesting relatively quickly. The handsome dark-green leaves can get to 15 cm long and turn a rich yellow-brown in autumn. The attractive white solitary flowers are borne in late spring to early summer, followed by the curious fruit reminiscent of a truncated pear with the characteristic long sepals partially enclosing the end. Hard-shelled seeds form in each of the five carpels and the medlar may be propagated from these, or by budding.
Medlar may have been popular on Roman and medieval tables, but we seem to have lost the taste for it since then. The fruit are as hard as a stone at first and need to be stored or bletted to make them soft enough to eat. At this stage, if they have not rotted or gone mouldy, they are rich brown and sweetish, something like mashed together date and dried apricot. Certainly an acquired taste, but a novelty for the end of a meal accompanied perhaps with a glass of port and some mature cheese.
A jelly can be made from the fruit and this is perhaps a more useful product, tasting sweet with an astringent sharpness that goes well with cheese or meat.
Modern cultivars are available today such as ‘Nottingham’, and these tend to have marginally larger fruit.
It is a tree with a fascinating history and although not native seems to have acquired a quintessential Englishness that makes it a classic for the garden. Its small size and habit together with its other attributes ensure that it will always be a talking point whether in the garden or on the dining table, so I have no hesitation in recommending medlar for the domestic garden. There are two fine specimens in the Botanic Gardens, to be found at the museum end of the upper herbaceous border. I hope that when the fruit is beginning to fall, someone there will pick it up and rediscover its unique qualities. As Du Hamel said, it is more a tree of fantasy than utility, and all the better for that.

Photos taken in 2007 in Belfast Botanic Gardens. The two trees are beside the cement arch at the Museum end of the upper herbaceous border.