Family |
Rosaceae
Pyrus syriaca
Boiss.
Pyrus syriaca Boiss.
First published in Diagnoses Plantarum Orientalium 10: 1 (1849)
(Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 2, Pl. LXXVI nº 3; 1969)
• Life-form & habit: Shrub or tree 5–10 m tall, sometimes spinescent; young buds ciliate. Branchlets initially arachnoid-pubescent along the margin and underside, becoming glabrous with age.
• Leaves: Long-petiolate; blade oblong-lanceolate, acute, base attenuate or rounded; margins distinctly crenate-denticulate. Young leaves shortly arachnoid beneath, later glabrous.
• Inflorescence & flowers: Corymbs multiflorous, pseudo-umbelliform. Sepals tomentose. Petals white, obovate, long-unguiculate, with a slightly hispid petal claw. Flowers large and showy.
• Fruit: Turbinate, 1–2 cm long, shorter than the thickened fruiting pedicel (which becomes 2–3× longer than the flower). Surface firm, with numerous stony granules in the mesocarp (generic character).
• Phenology: February – May.
• Habitat & elevation: Rocky or semi-rocky slopes, open woodland margins, montane terrain.
• Lebanese distribution: Saïda, Beirut, Tripoli; mid-mountain localities including ʿAbey, Baabda, ʿAraya, above Jounieh; high-mountain localities around Bcharré, ʿAïn Zehalta, Dahr el-Baïdar, Cedars of Hadeth, Hasroun; Beqaa and Anti-Lebanon (ʿAïnata, Deir el-Achaïr, Baalbek). Also recorded from Slenfé, Harim, Bassit, Cassius, Kessab, Qanaouat, and the Kafer forest zone.
• Native range: Cyprus, Iran, Iraq, Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Transcaucasus, Türkiye.
• ⚠️ Taxonomic note: Mouterde distinguishes the typical P. syriaca (buds ciliate; leaves crenate-denticulate) from the glabrous-budded var. bovei, which has entire, linear-lanceolate leaves and occurs sympatrically. Both share identical floral and fruit morphology, suggesting only slight foliar differentiation rather than deep taxonomic separation.