Pyrus calleryana | Maud Gordon Holmes Arboretum

A Callery pear on a dreary spring day, laden with an abundance of odorous, white flowers.

A Callery pear in late summer, located outside of Cassety Hall.

A closeup of a Callery pear fruit, which is much smaller and rounder than a typical grocery store pear.

Lichens cover the craggy bark of a Callery pear.

Scientific name: Pyrus calleryana

Common name: Callery Pear

Native: No

Native range: Native to Korea and Japan [6].

Distribution in North America: Click to view the USDA Plants Database page for P. calleryana.

USDA Zones: 5-9A [1]

Maximum age: Lives healthily to about 20 years before succumbing to ice and snow damage [1].

Ecology: The fruits are eaten by birds and small mammals that then disperse its seeds [1,5], and the flowers may be visited by pollinating insects [7].

Ethnobotany: It is mainly used as a street and ornamental tree because of its abundance of white flowers, though it is short-lived due to its fragility in the face of snow and ice damage [1,2,3,4,5,6,7].