Flora of North America species comparison

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Eriobotrya

loquat
Habit Shrubs or trees, 40–100[–200] dm.
Stems

ca. 1, erect;

bark gray-brown; short shoots absent; unarmed; hairy.
Leaves

persistent, cauline, simple;

stipules deciduous or ± persistent, free, linear, small, margins entire;

petiole present;

blade ± elliptic to oblong-lanceolate, 2–40 cm, leathery, margins flat, dentate, venation pinnate (craspedodromous), abaxial surface tomentose, adaxial glabrous [hairy].
Inflorescences

terminal, 20–40-flowered, panicles, usually ± tomentose;

bracts present at proximal nodes, leafy;

bracteoles present.
Pedicels

present, short, or nearly absent.
Flowers

perianth and androecium epigynous, 15–20 mm diam.;

hypanthium urceolate, 3–4 mm, usually tomentose;

sepals 5, suberect, triangular;

petals 5, white, obovate to ± oblong;

stamens [10–15]20, shorter than petals;

carpels (2–)5, connate, basally adnate to hypanthium, indumentum not recorded, styles (2–)5, terminal, proximally connate;

ovules 2.
Fruits

pomes, soft apricot yellow [yellow to reddish or blackish], ellipsoid to subglobose, [10–]20–30 mm diam., softly short-hairy;

hypanthium persistent;

sepals usually persistent, covering hypanthial opening or reflexed;

carpel walls thin;

styles not persistent.
Seeds

1–5 per fruit.
x

= 17.

Eriobotrya
Distribution
from USDA
s Asia; se Asia [Introduced in North America; introduced also in Mexico, West Indies, Central America, South America, Europe, n, s Africa, Pacific Islands (New Zealand), Australia]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Species ca. 30 (1 in the flora).

Eriobotrya is distinctive in Maleae; among other attributes it contains the largest plants in the subfamily with forest trees to 20 m and has pomes that do not have cores but have large seeds (J. R. Rohrer et al. 1991). Important regional revisions are by J. E. Vidal (1965) and Gu C. and S. A. Spongberg (2003c). The closest relation is Rhaphiolepis Lindley (D. Potter et al. 2007), in conformity with morphologic evidence. Eriobotrya japonica provides a delectable fruit. In addition to this species cultivated and escaped in the southern United States, E. deflexa (Hemsley) Nakai may be encountered in arboreta in the same area.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 9, p. 432. Author: James B. Phipps.
Parent taxa Rosaceae > subfam. Amygdaloideae > tribe Maleae
Subordinate taxa
E. japonica
Name authority Lindley: Trans. Linn. Soc. London 13: 96, 102. (1821)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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