Medlar

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Medlar
Medlar branch with fruits and leaves

Medlar branch with fruits and leaves

Systematics
Family : Rose family (Rosaceae)
Subfamily : Spiraeoideae
Tribe : Pyreae
Sub tribus : Pome fruit family (Pyrinae)
Genre : Medlars
Type : Medlar
Scientific name of the  genus
Mespilus
L.
Scientific name of the  species
Mespilus germanica
L.
tree
blossom
Fruits on the tree
Close up of fruits
Ripe medlar fruit
fruit

The medlar ( Mespilus germanica ) or common medlar is a species of the pome fruit family (Pyrinae) in the rose family (Rosaceae). It is a deciduous tree with a crooked trunk and broad crown that bears edible fruits. Other German names are: German medlar, medlar; Asperl, Aschperln, Hespelein; Dürgen, Dörrlitzen, Dürrlitzen; Dog ass.

description

The medlar is a small, up to 5–6 meter high, deciduous tree with an irregularly shaped trunk, which reaches a diameter of 20 to 25 centimeters ( BHD ), rarely up to 50 centimeters. The crown is expansive and almost round. Most of the time the trees are wider than they are tall. The somewhat rough bark is brownish-gray and flakes off in smaller plates with age. Medlars have highly branched, extensive and rather shallow roots.

The wood is very hard, porous and has a fine texture. The sapwood is white with a slightly pink tint, the heartwood is brownish. The annual rings are easy to see. The branching system is divided into long and short shoots , with only the latter producing fruits. The young shoots of the wild form with weak tomentose hair carry thorns that are missing in cultivated forms.

The chromosome number given is 2n = 32 or 2n = 34.

Buds and leaves

The winter buds are pointed ovoid, 3 to 5 millimeters long and have notched, reddish-brown, almost black on the edge, but lightly ciliated bud scales (tegmental areas). The alternate, simple and short-stalked leaves are ovate to obovate or elliptical to lanceolate and rounded to rounded or pointed to pointed. The top is dark green, the underside a bit lighter and tomentose. The leaf blade is 6 to 12 inches long and 2 to 4 inches wide, the leaf edge is completely to partly serrated. The petioles are short and hairy. The two egg-shaped, durable stipules have a spiked tip and a glandular ciliate edge.

Flowers and fruits

The flowers are the normal hermaphrodite, radial symmetry flowers with a double flower envelope of the rose family. They stand individually on the short shoots and are strikingly large, with a diameter of 3 to 5 centimeters. The five sepals are narrow, eilanzettlich to subpulate and hairy on the outside and inside. They stand between the much shorter petals . The five free, round petals are white or slightly pink. The 30 to 40 free stamens have yellow to red anthers (anthers). There are usually five free styluses that have grown together at the base . The multi-chambered ovary is subordinate. There is a discus . Self-pollination is the rule. The German medlar blooms in May and early June.

The orange-brown to brown apple fruits ripen towards the end of October and beginning of November. The fruits are spherical and partly somewhat flattened, with the clearly recognizable long sepals at the tip. Stylus and stamina remains may also be present. The fruits are "open" at the top and without peel in the upper area and only covered by disc and axis tissue. The fruit is strongly interspersed with supporting tissue ( sclerenchyma ), which earned it the name "stone apple". The smaller fruits of the wild form have a diameter of 1.5 to 3 centimeters and a length of 1.6 to 2.4 centimeters, in cultivated forms the diameter is 3 to 6.5 centimeters, rarely 7 to 8 centimeters. The fruits are more or less hairy and finely waxy. 2–5 wrinkled-ribbed, orange-brown and egg-shaped, very hard "stone cores" are formed, which remain enclosed by the fleshy tissue. They are up to about 8-10 millimeters long. The angular seeds in it are up to 6 millimeters long.

Distribution and location requirements

Since the medlar was cultivated early on, its natural range cannot be given with certainty. West Asia ( Iran , Iraq , Turkey ), the Caucasus , Turkmenistan , Ukraine , Greece , Bulgaria and Italy are considered natural areas . The species was also cultivated outside of its natural range, for example in central and southern Europe, in the south of England and on the Channel Islands . It was also grown in the United States , South America, North and South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand . Today the medlars are grown again on a larger scale around Lake Lucerne in central Switzerland for fruit production. In Germany, several loquat occurrences are funded by the city of Heidelberg in a conservation program. The medlar develops best in temperate and sub-Mediterranean climates. It only makes low demands on the location and can grow old under favorable conditions. Several trees over 70 years old are known, in England also over 300 years old trees. Air temperatures of 18 to 20 ° C are mentioned as favorable for growth, cold of down to −20 ° C is tolerated. Late frosts do hardly any damage. In Italy the wild form grows in areas with annual precipitation of 700 millimeters at heights of 0 to 1100 meters. The species grows in different soils, provided the pH value is between 6 and 8, but it usually grows on soils poor in lime and prefers fresh, well-drained loamy soils . It thrives mainly in companies in order Prunetalia, but also comes in companies of the associations Carpinion or Quercion roboris-petraeae ago.

Multiplication

The wild forms reproduce generatively , the seeds remain viable for 18 to 20 months. They are spread by birds and squirrels, and probably also deer and wild boar. Cultivated forms are multiplied by inoculation and by grafting on various substrates such as hawthorns , pears , quinces and mountain ash .

Plant diseases

The loquat is rarely attacked by diseases or harmed by insects. In plantations, the larvae of the leaf- mining butterfly species Lithocolletis blancardella can cause damage. The fungus Monilia fructigena (genus Monilia ) causes fruit rot, the powdery mildew pathogen Podosphaera clandestina causes leaves and buds to wilt. The medlar is susceptible to Erwinia amylovora , the causative agent of fire blight .

Systematics

The genus Mespilus was considered monotypical for a long time, and again today . In the twentieth century a suspected second species was found in Arkansas (USA) and named Mespilus canescens J.B. Phipps . Later it turned out that it was a spontaneous generic hybrids between imported loquat from Europe and an American Weißdornart she was then, even, from the first to describe the Nothogattung x Crataemespilus transferred and Crataemespilus x canescens named.

According to phylogenomic studies, in which the relationship is determined by comparing homologous DNA sequences, the medlar is closely related to the genus hawthorn ( Crataegus ). Their exact position and their sister group relationship are still controversial, but it is in any case very basic in the common clade , possibly with all hawthorns as sister group. A sister group relationship with the North American hawthorn species Crataegus brachyacantha would also be possible . According to an opinion based on this, which is still controversial, the medlar would simply be another hawthorn species, then Crataegus germanica (L.) K. Koch, in the (monotypical) section Mespilus . Mespilus is morphologically very similar to different species of the species-rich and diverse genus Crataegus . Differentiating characteristics are: Fruits brown (not red, black or yellow), flowers and fruits much larger, inflorescences usually always single-flowered, kernels in the ripe fruit are completely covered by the tissue of the flower cup.

Within the species Mespilus germanica , 23 taxa are distinguished. Including the varieties :

  • Mespilus germanica var. Gigantea Kirchn. with very large fruits
  • Mespilus germanica var. Abortiva Kirchn. with fruits without seeds
  • Mespilus germanica var. Argenteo-variegata with white variegated leaves as an ornamental plant
  • Mespilus germanica var. Aureo-variegata with yellow variegated leaves as an ornamental plant

and the varieties :

  • 'Dutch Medlar', 'Common Medlar' with particularly large fruits (around 1800)
  • 'Early Medlar' with early ripening, high-quality fruits (around 1800)
  • 'Royal', a very high yielding variety.
  • 'Seedless' with low quality seedless fruits

etymology

"Medlar" (Middle High German mespel / mispel ) goes back to Old High German mespila from Latin mespilum , which is based on the Greek méspilon . The Latin genus name Mespilus was used by Pliny the Elder (23–79 AD) and Palladius (4th century AD), who gave precise instructions on how to cultivate the medlar in Opus agriculturae . The Greeks called the tree mespile , the fruit mespilon . It was mentioned by Theophrastus (371–287 BC) and Dioscurides (1st century AD ) , among others . However, the expression is a foreign word of unknown origin in both ancient languages.

The species epithet germanica means “German” and is likely to go back to the mistake that the medlar is a species native to Germany because it was known there for a long time when Linnaeus named it.

use

The fruits of the medlar are edible after exposure to frost or longer storage and have a typical acidic, aromatic taste. They can then also be processed into jam or jelly , which is why the species was widely used as a fruit tree in the past. Tannins and fruit acids are broken down by storage , the sugar content rises and the fruits become tender, otherwise they are hard and astringent . Today the medlar is rarely cultivated.

Medlar is a popular drink in Frankfurt am Main and consists of calvados and a pickled medlar fruit, sometimes mixed with medlar juice. However, the fruit of the Japanese loquat is used.

In Saarland, a schnapps is made from the fruits of the medlar, which is refined with hawthorn . The schnapps is called Hundsärsch , which is also the regional name for the medlar fruit.

The content of nutrients and minerals changes with increasing fruit ripeness. In 1984 and 1985 the following values ​​were given for homogenized fruits:

Period L- ascorbic acid glucose Fructose potassium Calcium
Early 1984 1.64 mg / l 53.75 mg / l 37.31 mg / l 47.2 ppm 4.7 ppm
Late 1984 1.54 mg / l 61.74 mg / l 70.06 mg / l 43.0 ppm 4.5 ppm
Early 1985 2.64 mg / l 43.50 mg / l 35.70 mg / l 48.9 ppm 5.2 ppm
Late 1985 1.41 mg / l 60.30 mg / l 60.50 mg / l 46.1ppm 5.0 ppm

Due to their diuretic and astringent properties, the fruits were used in folk medicine.

Unripe fruits have a tannin content of around 2.6% and were used for tanning with leaves and bark . They can also be used to reduce the cloudiness of wine, apple and pear must, as the tannin causes proteins to flocculate.

The medlar wood is suitable for cabinet making , for turning and for inlays . It is used as firewood and to make charcoal .

The variegated forms in particular have a horticultural significance as ornamental trees.

Common names

The other German-language trivial names Hundsärsch ( Saarland ), Aspelen ( Swabia ), Aspeln (Swabia), Apenärseken ( Middle Low German ), Apenears (Middle Low German), Apeneersken (Middle Low German), Apenihrschen (Middle Low German), Apenirschen ( ), Asperle ( Austria , Bavaria ), Eschpel ( Middle High German ), Espelbaum (Austria), Espele (Bavaria near Eichstädt), Esperlbaum ( Salzburg ), Esperling (Austria), Hespel, Hespelbaum, Hespelstrauch, Hirschbeerle (Austria), whitebeam (in Reference to the floury-doughy harvest-ripe fruits), Melboum (Middle High German), Melpiren (Middle High German), Mespel (Middle High German), Mespelbom (Middle Low German), Mespilbaum ( Old High German ), Messelpaum (Middle High German), Mestelieder (Middle High German), Milebom) (Middle High German), Medlar (Middle High German), Medlar tree (Middle High German), Medlar, Myspelbo, Nespelbam ( Tyrol ), Leischpl (Lavanttal in Ostkärn ten), Nesperli (Tyrol), Nespelen (South Tyrol), Nespelbaum, Nespil (Old High German), Quantelbeerbaum (Austria), Quaddl (pl .: Quaddla) (Middle Swabian), Wichsel (Middle High German), Wihsel (Middle High German), Wihselbaum (Middle High German) , Wispel ( Niederlausitz , Hannover ), Wispelter (refers to the fruit, Niederlausitz, Hannover) and Wispeltüte.

Others

The medlar in literature

William Shakespeare mentions the medlar in two of his plays, As You Like It and Romeo and Juliet .

City of Viersen
House Arenberg

The medlar flower as a coat of arms symbol

  • The flower of the medlar can be found as a Geldern rose in the coat of arms of the city of Geldern and other cities in the Duchy of Geldern . The town of Viersen also has three silver medlar flowers on a blue sign.
  • The Arenberg family from the Eifel had three (2: 1) five-petalled golden medlar blossoms in their coat of arms. The municipality of Wallenborn in the Vulkaneifel has a medlar in its coat of arms, which is reminiscent of the rule of Arenberg. The medlars in the coat of arms of the Emsland district come from the old district coat of arms of Meppen and go back to the Dukes of Arenberg, who in 1803 became lords of the Meppen office , which previously belonged to the Duchy of Münster .
  • In Italy, the municipality of Nespolo (Italian = medlar) shows a medlar tree in its coat of arms.
  • In Austria, St. Thomas has a silver medlar branch with six leaves and a red fruit core in the coat of arms.

The medlar in dialect

In the Saarland , medlar fruits are also known colloquially as "dog asses" because of their visual appearance. The oldest known medlar in Saarland is in the gardens of the Haus Lochfeld cultural landscape center in Mandelbachtal .

history

In the Middle Ages, the common medlar was a widespread fruit in Europe. In Chapter 70 of Charlemagne's Capitulare de villis vel curtis imperii, the real medlar is listed as one of the 16 fruit trees as mespilarios . The medlar was widespread in southern and central Europe in the Middle Ages, and in England in the 17th and 18th centuries. Today it is no longer important as a fruit tree in Europe, but has overgrown several areas. There are still intensively managed plantations in Spain (Valencia) and some countries in Southwest Asia, such as Azerbaijan .

swell

Historical illustrations

literature

Web links

Commons : Medlar  - album with pictures, videos and audio files
Wiktionary: Medlar  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations
Wikibooks: Medlar Parfait Recipe

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Liber Herbarum Minor (German) (accessed May 4, 2008).
  2. ↑ a b Entry in Botanical Gardens Bonn (accessed on May 4, 2008).
  3. ↑ a b c d e f Schütt et al .: Encyclopedia of Deciduous Trees. P. 335.
  4. ↑ a b c Schütt et al .: Encyclopedia of Deciduous Trees. P. 336.
  5. ↑ a b Schütt, Schuck, Stimm: Lexicon of tree and shrub species. 2007, ISBN 3-933203-53-8 .
  6. ↑ Karl Tubeuf : Seeds, fruits and seedlings. Springer, 1891, ISBN 978-3-642-52146-1 (reprint), p. 70.
  7. ↑ a b c d e Schütt et al .: Encyclopedia of Deciduous Trees . P. 334.
  8. ↑ Entry in GRIN (English, accessed May 4, 2008).
  9. ↑ Dominik Flammer , Sylvan Müller: Encyclopedia of Alpine Delicacies . AT-Verlag, ISBN 978-3-03800-829-3 , p. 160 .
  10. ↑ Heidelberg protects loquat deposits. City of Heidelberg, November 24, 2010, accessed on March 19, 2016 .
  11. ↑ a b c d Schütt et al .: Encyclopedia of Deciduous Trees. P. 337.
  12. ^ Erich Oberdorfer : Plant-sociological excursion flora for Germany and neighboring areas . With the collaboration of Angelika Schwabe and Theo Müller. 8th, heavily revised and expanded edition. Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart (Hohenheim) 2001, ISBN 3-8001-3131-5 , pp.  509 .
  13. ↑ JBPhipps: Mespilus canescens a new rosaceous endemic from Arkansas . Systematic Botany 15, 26-32, 1990 (quoted from Schuck et al .: Encyclopedia of Deciduous Trees ).
  14. ↑ a b c James Phipps (2016): Studies in Mespilus, Crataegus, and × Crataemespilus (Rosaceae), I. differentiation of Mespilus and Crataegus, expansion of × Crataemespilus, with supplementary observations on differences between the Crataegus and Amelanchier clades. Phytotaxa 257 (3): 201-229. doi: 10.11646 / phytotaxa.257.3.1 .
  15. ↑ Eugenia YY Lo, Saša Stefanovič, Knud Ib Christensen, Timothy A. Dickinson: Evidence for genetic association between East Asian and western North American Crataegus L. (Rosaceae) and rapid divergence of the eastern North American lineages based on multiple DNA sequences. In: Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 51, 2009, 157-168, doi: 10.1016 / j.ympev.2009.01.018 .
  16. ↑ Eugenia YY Lo, Saša Stefanovič, Timothy A. Dickinson: Molecular Reappraisal of Relationships Between Crataegus and Mespilus (Rosaceae, Pyreae) —Two Genera or One? In: Systematic Botany. 32 (3), 2007, 596-616, doi: 10.1600 / 036364407782250562 .
  17. ^ Friedrich Kluge , Alfred Götze : Etymological dictionary of the German language . 20th edition. Edited by Walther Mitzka , De Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1967; Reprint (“21st unchanged edition”) ibid 1975, ISBN 3-11-005709-3 , p. 481.
  18. ↑ Helmut Genaust: Etymological dictionary of botanical plant names. Birkhäuser, Basel / Stuttgart 1976, ISBN 3-7643-0755-2 , S 383 (3rd edition ISBN 3-937872-16-7 ).
  19. ↑ Helmut Genaust: Etymological dictionary of botanical plant names . 3rd edition, 2005, p 265, ISBN 3-937872-16-7 .
  20. ↑ "Kulinart": A fair for body and soul. Retrieved November 14, 2017 .
  21. ↑ Monika J. Peukert. Service tree (Sorbus domestica) and medlar (Mespilus germanica) - two rare wild fruit species on our orchards. Großstadtgrün, Edition II (orchards), March 2015, p. 35. BUND Frankfurt. Online .
  22. ↑ Charly Lehnert : The Saarland Geheichnis, Volume 1: Stories and glosses . Lehnert Verlag, Bübingen 2014, ISBN 978-3-939286-18-9 , Hundsärsch - der Gau-Whiskey , p. 332-334 .
  23. ↑ G. Bounous, E. Zanini: Variabilità di alcune componenti e caratteri biometrici dei frutti di 6 specie arboree ed arbustive . Proc. workshop “Lampone mirtillo ed altri piccoli frutti”, Trento, 1987, 189–197 (quoted from Schuck et al .: Encyclopedia of Deciduous Trees ).
  24. ↑ P. Peyre: Les Nefliers: Les Arbres & Leurs Fruits, Usage Medicaux Pharmaceutiques & Dietetiques . Les Presses Rapides, Paris, 1945 (quoted from Schuck et al .: Encyclopedia of Deciduous Trees ).
  25. ↑ Schütt et al .: Encyclopedia of Deciduous Trees . P. 338.
  26. ↑ Wolfgang Schiedermair: The "Meelbyrn, Paliurus" in Adam Lonitzer's "Kreuterbuch" (1679). For knowledge of X Sorbopyrus auricularis (Kroop.) Schneid. - Rose hip pear. In: Medical historical messages. Journal for the history of science and specialist prose research. Volume 34, 2015 (2016), pp. 87–96, here: p. 91.
  27. ^ Georg August Pritzel , Carl Jessen : The German folk names of plants. New contribution to the German linguistic treasure. Philipp Cohen, Hannover 1882, p. 116 ( Textarchiv - Internet Archive ).
  28. ^ Mespilus germanica. (No longer available online.) In: Promising Plants Profiles. The Herb Society of America, 2005, archived from the original on August 28, 2008 ; accessed on September 29, 2012 (English).
  29. ↑ Dericks-Tan, Vollbrecht: On the trail of wild fruits in Europe , ISBN 3-00-021129-2 , Abadi-Verlag 2009. P. 18 and 185ff.
  30. ↑ Pedanios Dioscurides , 1st century. De Medicinali Materia libri quinque. Julius Berendes . Pedanius Dioscurides' medicine theory in 5 books. Enke, Stuttgart 1902, Book I, Chapter 169: Medlar, Chapter 170: Other Medlar , Text Archive - Internet Archive
  31. ↑ Pliny the Elder , 1st century. Naturalis historia , Book XV, Chapter XXII (§ 84) (digitized version) ; Translation Külb 1855 digitized
  32. ^ Galen , 2nd century De alimentarum facultatibus liber II, Chapter XXV (based on the Kühn 1826 edition, Volume VI, p. 606) (digitized version) .
  33. ↑ Hildegard von Bingen , 12th century Physica III, chapter 13th edition. Charles Victor Daremberg and Friedrich Anton Reuss (1810–1868). P. 1228 Hildegardis Abbatissae Subtilitatum Diversarum Naturarum Creaturarum Libri Novem. Migne, Paris 1855 (digitized version) based on the Paris manuscript. Liber beate Hildegardis subtilitatum diversarum naturarum creaturarum et sic de aliis quam multis bonis. Paris. Bibliothèque Nationale. Codex 6952 f. 156-232. Complete handwriting. 15th century (1425-1450). Translation Portmann 1991: From the medlar. The medlar is very warm and means mildness. But their bark and leaves are of little use as medicines, because their power is entirely in the fruit. But the person who suffers from fever should pulverize its roots and drink this powder in warm wine on an empty stomach and after dinner and towards night, precisely when this weakness occurs. And he does this often and he will be healed. But the fruit of this tree is useful and good for healthy and sick people, however much of it is eaten, because it allows the flesh to grow and purifies the blood.
  34. ↑ Konrad von Megenberg , 14th century. Main source: Thomas von Cantimpré , Liber de natura rerum . Output. Franz Pfeiffer . Konrad von Megenberg. Book of nature. Aue, Stuttgart 1861, p. 333 (digitized version)
  35. ↑ Gart der Gesundheit , Mainz 1485, Chapter 282 (digitized version)
  36. ↑ Otto Brunfel's book of herbs. Strasbourg 1537, p. 157 (digitized version)
  37. ↑ Hieronymus Bock . Herbal Book. Strasbourg 1546, Part III, Chapter 32 (digitized version) .
  38. ^ Pietro Andrea Mattioli : Commentarii, in libros sex Pedacii Dioscoridis Anazarbei, de medica materia. Translation by Georg Handsch, edited by Joachim Camerarius the Younger , Johan Feyerabend, Franckfurt am Mayn 1586, sheets 85v – 86r: Mespelbaum (digitized)
  39. ↑ Transcription and translation of the text by Franz Unterkircher. Tacuinum sanitatis… Graz 2004, p. 50: Cubaria . id est nespula: complexio frigida et sicca in 2 °. Electio: multarum carnium. iuvamentum: praeseruant ab ebrietate. nocumentum: stomacho et digestioni. Remotio nocumenti: cum penidiis. Quid generant: chimum siccum. conveniunt magis calidis complexionis, in estate et meridionali regione. Cubaria , ds medlars: Complexion: cold and dry in the 2nd degree. Preferable: those with a lot of meat. Benefit: they protect against drunkenness. Damage: for stomach and digestion. Prevention of harm: with barley sugar. What They Create: Dry Nutrient. Particularly beneficial for people with a warm complexion, in summer and in southern areas.
This version was added to the list of articles worth reading on October 2, 2008 .