Medlar - Mespilus germanica

Small spiny tree to 6 metres, twigs roughly hairy. Leaves shiny green above, grey hairy beneath. Flowers white or slightly pink, 25 to 36 mm solitary on short leafy shoot. Fruit apple shaped, 24 to 26 mm crowded by persistent sepals.

Hedges, thickets and open woodland.

May to June.

Deciduous.

Occasionally found as a naturalised tree. Most British records come from south of a line between the Wash and the Severn.

Rare in Leicestershire and Rutland as introduced tree The tree photographed at Fosse Meadows probably established from original tree planting at the site.

It was on the 2011 VC55 Rare Plant Register (Jeeves, 2011) but is not on the current RPR (Hall & Woodward, 2022) because records are of introduced plants