Loquat

A tree of moderate size, the Loquat may reach 20 to 30 feet in height and 6 to 9 inches in diameter. It has a rounded crown, a short trunk and woolly new twigs.

The evergreen LEAVES, mostly whorled at the branch tips, are elliptical-lanceolate to obovate lanceolate, 5 to 12 inches long and 3 to 4 inches wide; dark-green and glossy on the upper surface, whitish-or rusty-hairy beneath, thick, stiff, with conspicuous parallel, oblique veins, each usually terminating at the margin in a short, prickly point.

Sweetly fragrant FLOWERS, borne in rusty-hairy, terminal panicles of 30 to 100 blooms, are white, 5-petalled, 1/2 to 3/4 inch wide.

The FRUIT, in clusters of 4 to 30, are oval, rounded or pear-shaped, 1 to 2 inches long, with smooth or downy, yellow to orange, sometimes red-blushed, skin, and white, yellow or orange, succulent pulp, of sweet to sub-acid or acid flavor. There may be 1 to 10 seeds, though, ordinarily, only 3 to 5, dark-brown or light-brown, angular-ellipsoid, about 5/8 inch long and 5/16 inch thick.

The WOOD is pink, hard, close-grained, medium-heavy. It has been used instead of pear wood in making rulers and other drawing instruments.