Pyrus betulifolia Bunge

A slender, quick-growing, graceful tree 20 to 30 ft high; young shoots covered thickly with a grey felt which persists the whole of the year. Leaves ovate or roundish ovate, 2 to 3 in. long, 11⁄4 to 11⁄2 in. wide, long-pointed, tapered or rounded at the base, regularly and sometimes rather coarsely serrated, downy on both surfaces at first, remaining so on the veins beneath throughout the season; dark green, glabrous and lustrous above; stalk 1 to 11⁄4 in. long, grey-felted like the shoot. Flowers eight to ten together in a corymb, white, each about 3⁄4 in. across, on a downy stalk 3⁄4 to 1 in. long; styles two or three; calyx downy, its short triangular teeth falling away from the small roundish fruit, which is about the size of a large pea, greyish brown with white dots.

Native of N. China; introduced to Kew in 1882 through seeds sent by Dr Bretschneider. The chief characteristics of the tree are its quick graceful growth, and small fruits not crowned by calyx teeth. Its fruit would appear to be of no value, but the tree is used by the Chinese as a stock on which they graft fruiting pears.