Pyrus spinosa

Pyrus spinosa, the almond-leaved pear, is a species of flowering plant in the family Rosaceae, native to the northern Mediterranean region. It has white flowers which bloom in April–May. The fruits are bitter and astringent. It hybridizes easily with Pyrus communis and Pyrus pyraster.

Description

Pyrus spinosa is a spiny shrub or small tree reaching up to about 6 m in height. Young twigs are initially covered in a dense, white woolly hair, but become smooth and hairless as they mature. Its leaves are narrow and variable in shape—ranging from or to —and measure about 2.5–5.0 cm long by 1–2 cm wide. The margin is usually but may bear shallow, rounded teeth near the tip. Leaves may be sessile or carried on short stalks up to 2 cm long. When young, the lower surface of each leaf is white‑villous, later becoming smooth on both sides.
In spring, the species produces many‑flowered clusters whose stalks and are covered in greyish, matted hairs. Individual flowers are 2.0–2.5 cm across, with five white surrounding a cup‑shaped hypanthium.
By mid to late summer, the plant bears small pomes 2–3 cm in diameter. The fruit is nearly spherical, yellowish‑brown when ripe, and retains its lobes at the tip. Each fruit is borne singly on a stout, stiff stalk 2–3 cm long.

Habitat and distribution

Pyrus spinosa is native to the Mediterranean region, with a core range extending through southern Europe into western Anatolia. It typically grows in dry, open forests and scrublands on well‑drained, rocky slopes and at woodland margins, favouring elevations of where it often occurs alongside oaks and other drought‑tolerant shrubs. Although principally recorded from Europe and Anatolia, herbarium collections from two sites in western Iran—close to the Turkish border in the Zagros Mountains—confirm its presence there, representing an eastward extension of its known distribution.