Mespilus germanica L.

Spice Flower Fruit

Family: ROSACEAE

Genus: Mespilus

Catalan common name: Nesprer.

Spanish common name: Níspero. Nispolero.

General distribution (Phytogeography): East Mediterranean

Uses and properties: Edible or foodstuffs. Medicinal.

Flowering time: JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec

Life-forms: Macrophanerophyte.

Habitats: Cultivated species. Garden plants. Cultivated specie.

Description: A shrub or small deciduous tree that can reach up to 4 m in height. Leaves are long and elliptic and more or less hairy, with a simple or finely serrate margin at the apex, with very little petiole. Flowers are large, white, 3-4 cm in diameter, which emerge between the leaves. The fruits, the loquat or medlar, are in the shape of a top, some 4 cm in diameter, with top half flat and crowned with the teeth of the calyx.

Observations: The loquat or medlar is only edible when it is overripe.