Loquat

Loquat (Eriobotrya Japonica), an esteemed Chinese and Japanese fruit, of the natural order Rosaceæ, sub-order Roseæ, and of a genus closely allied to Mespilus (Medlar). It has been introduced into Australia and is now abundant there. The tree or shrub which produces it attains a height of 20 or 30 feet, but in cultivation is seldom allowed to exceed 12 feet. It is a beautiful ever-green, with large oblong wrinkled leaves, and white flowers in terminal woolly panicles, having a fragrance like that of hawthorn-blossom; the fruit is downy, oval, or pear-shaped, yellow, and about the size of a large gooseberry. The seeds have an agreeable flavour which they impart to tarts. The loquat lives in the open air in the south of England, and produces fruit; but a warmer climate is required for fruit of fine quality. It is hardly about London and southward in England. It may be grafted on any species of Mespilus.