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Pyrus betulifolia
Birch leaf pear is a deciduous wild pear tree from China and Tibet, grown mainly as rootstock for grafting Asian pears and for its small fruit. It is tough and cold hardy, and it has thorny stems.
Pyrus betulifolia, known as the birchleaf pear in English and tang li in Chinese, is a deciduous wild pear tree native to the leafy forests of northern and central China and Tibet. It can grow 10 meters high in optimal conditions. Formidable thorns (which are modified stems) protect its leaves from predation. These narrow and extended leaves, resembling smaller birch leaves, provide it with its specific name betulifolia, meaning "birch leaf". Its small fruit (5–11 mm (0.20–0.43 in) in diameter) are used as ingredients in types of rice wine in China and sake in Japan. It is used as rootstock for grafting popular Asian pear varieties.
Pyrus boissieriana · Chinese White Pear · Callery Pear · European Pear · Snow Pear · Pyrus phaeocarpa · Chinese pear · Pyrus regelii · Willow Leaved Pear · Pear
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Pyrus betulifolia by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
