Mespilus germanica
Mispelzweig with fruits and leaves
The medlar ( Mespilus germanica ) or Medlar is a species of pome fruit crops ( Pyrinae ) in the rose family ( Rosaceae ). It is a deciduous tree with a crooked trunk and broad crown, which bears edible fruit. The species was widespread in the Middle Ages in southern and central Europe, in the 17th and 18th centuries in England. Today she has but wild in Europe than fruit trees no more importance, in several areas. Intensively managed plantations still exist in some countries of South east Asia, as in Azerbaijan.
Other names are: German medlar, Mispelche; Asperl, Aschperln, Hespelein; Dürgen, Dörrlitzen, Dürrlitzen; Hundsärsch.
- 9.1 Literature
- 9.2 Notes and references
Description
The medlar is a midget, to 5 m high, deciduous tree with irregularly shaped stem, rarely to 50 centimeters reached a diameter of 20 to 25 centimeters ( BHD). The crown is spreading and nearly round. Most trees are wider than high. Medlars have a highly branched, broad and rather shallow rooting. The wood is very hard, diffuse-porous, and of fine texture. The sapwood is white with a slight pink tinge and the heartwood is brownish. The annual rings are clearly visible. The branching system is divided into long and short shoots, with only the latter fruitfulness. The slightly tomentose hairy young shoots of wild-type bear spines, which are absent in cultural forms.
As chromosome number 2n = 32 or 2n = 34 specified.
Buds and leaves
The winter buds are pointed ovate, 3 to 5 millimeters long and have notched, reddish brown, almost black at the edge, but bright ciliated bud scales ( Tegmente ). The alternate, simple leaves are oblong oval and slightly pointed. The top is dark green, hairy, the lower bit brighter and tomentose. The leaf blade is 6 to 12 inches long and 2-4 inches wide. The petioles are short. The two oval, lasting stipules ( stipules ) have a patch spike tip and a glandular ciliated border.
Flowers and Fruit
The flowers are hermaphrodite the normal, radial symmetry flowers with double blooms cover the rose family. They are individually on the short shoots and are strikingly large, with a diameter of 3 to 5 centimeters. The five sepals are narrow, lanceolate and hairy on the outside and inside. They stand between the significantly shorter petals. The five free, rounded petals are white or slightly pink. The 30 to 40 stamens have red anthers ( anthers ). There are usually five pen available. The ovary is inferior. Self-pollination is the rule. The German medlar flowers in May and early June.
The apple fruit is ripe in late October, early November. The fruits are then brownish and have the shape of a flattened sphere with the clearly visible sepals at the top. The fruit is strongly of supporting tissue ( sclerenchyma ) interspersed, which earned her the name of stone apple. The fruits of the wild-type having a diameter of 1.5 to 3 centimeters and a length of from 1.6 to 2.4 centimeters, in culture, the diameter is 3 to 6.5 inches, often 7 to 8 centimeters. As a five seed nuclei are formed, which remain enclosed by the fleshy tissue.
Distribution and habitat requirements
Since the medlar has been cultivated early, the natural range can not be specified with certainty. As a natural area of West Asia (Iran, Iraq, Turkey ), the Caucasus, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Greece, Bulgaria and Italy apply. The species was cultivated outside their natural area, as in central and southern Europe, southern England and the Channel Islands. There were also additions take place in the U.S., South America, North and South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. In Germany, several Mispelvorkommen be funded by the city of Heidelberg in a conservation program.
The medlar develops best under temperate and sub-Mediterranean climate. It provides little habitat requirements and can be old under favorable conditions. There are known several over 70 -year-old trees in England over 300 years old trees. As for the growth of cheap air temperatures are called 18 to 20 ° C, cooling down to -20 ° C can be tolerated. Late frosts set little damage. In Italy, the wild form grows in areas with annual rainfall of 700 millimeters in height 0-1100 meters. The species grows on various soils, where the pH is between 6 and 8, but it usually grows on lime-poor soils and prefers fresh, well- drained loamy soil.
Propagation
The wild forms multiply generative, the seeds remain viable for 18 to 20 months. They are spread by birds and squirrels, and probably by deer and wild boar. Cultivars are propagated by budding and by grafting on different documents such as hawthorn, pear, quince, rowan.
Plant diseases
The medlar is rarely attacked by disease or damaged by insects. In plantations, the larvae of the leaf-mining species of butterfly Lithocolletis blancardella can cause damage. The fungus Monilia fructigena ( genus Monilia ) causes fruit rot, powdery mildew pathogen Podosphaera clandestina resulting in withering of leaves and buds. The medlar is prone amylovore against Erwinia, the causal agent of fire blight.
System
The genus Mespilus was long regarded as monotypic. Only in the twentieth century, another type was found and described in Arkansas (USA) with Mespilus canescens JBPhipps. In 2006 presented phylogenetic analyzes identify the two species from the genus status and line up the two Mespilus species in the genre of the hawthorn (Crataegus ), the brachyacantha along with the type Crataegus coffin. & Engelm. form a clade.
Within the species Mespilus germanica 23 taxa are distinguished. Among the varieties:
- M. germanica var gigantea Kirchn. with very large fruits
- M. germanica var abortifacients Kirchn. with fruits without seeds
- M. germanica var argenteo - variegata with white variegated leaves as an ornamental plant
- M. germanica var aureo - variegata with yellow variegated leaves as an ornamental plant
And the varieties:
- ' Dutch Medlar ', ' Common Medlar ' with particularly large fruit ( around 1800 )
- 'Early Medlar ' with early- maturing, high-quality fruit ( around 1800 )
- 'Royal', a high yielding variety.
- ' Seedless ' with seedless fruits low quality
Etymology
The genus name comes from the Latin Mespilus and was among others by Pliny the Elder ( 23-79 AD ) and Palladius (4th century AD) used the exact instructions to the culture of loquat in Opus Agriculturae leads. Among the Greeks, the tree was mespile, the fruit mespilon called. It was mentioned among others by Theophrastus ( 371-287 BC) and Dioscorides (1st century AD). The term is, however, in two ancient languages a foreign word of unknown origin.
The Style epithet germanica means " German " and should go back to the misconception that the medlar is a native to Germany way because she was there for a long time known as Linnaeus named it.
Use
The fruit of the medlar are edible after exposure to frost or prolonged storage, and have a typical sour, aromatic flavor. They can be made into jam or jelly then, the species was therefore formerly widely used as a fruit tree. By storing tannins and fruit acids are broken down, the sugar content rises and the fruit is tender, otherwise they are hard and astringent. Today, the loquat is rarely in culture.
The content of nutrients and minerals decreases with increasing fruit ripeness. In the years 1984 and 1985, the following values for homogenized fruits were specified:
Because of its diuretic and astringent effect of the fruits were used folk medicine.
Immature fruits have a tannin content of about 2.6% and were used with leaves and bark for tanning. They can also be used to reduce the turbidity of wine, cider and perry, as the tannin causes the flocculation of proteins.
The Mispelholz suitable for cabinet making, woodturning and for marquetry. It is used as firewood and for making charcoal.
Especially the variegated forms have a horticultural importance as ornamental tree.
Others
In the Middle Ages the Medlar was a widespread species of fruit in Europe. In the agricultural goods order Capitulare de vel curtis imperii villis of Charlemagne the Medlar is listed as one of the 16 fruit trees as mespilarios in Chapter 70.
William Shakespeare mentions the medlar (English: medlar ) in two of his plays, in As You Like It and Romeo and Juliet.
The flowering of loquat can be found as Geldernsche rose in arms of the city funds and other cities of the duchy of Geldern. This is also the city of Viersen leads three silver Mispelblüten on a blue shield as coat of arms.
In Saarland is called the Mispelfrüchte due to their optical appearance colloquially as " Hundsärsch ". The oldest known medlar Saarland stands in the gardens of the cultural landscape center hole home field in Mandelbachtal