The loquat (Eriobotrya japonica, Chinese: 枇杷; Pinyin: pípá) is a large evergreen shrub or tree grown commercially for its orange-coloured fruits. It is also cultivated as an ornamental plant. The loquat is a fruit tree in the family Rosaceae, subfamily Amygdaloideae, tribe Maleae. It is native to the cooler hill regions of south-central China. It has been introduced to regions with subtropical to mild temperate climates throughout the world. Eriobotrya japonica formerly was thought to be closely related to the genus Mespilus and is still sometimes known as the Japanese medlar, which is the name it takes in other European languages, such as níspero japonés in Spanish or nespolo giapponese in Italian. It is also known as Japanese plum and Chinese plum.
Etymology
The name loquat derives from Cantonese lou4 gwat1 (Chinese: 盧橘; pinyin: lújú; lit. 'black orange'). In Louisiana, many refer to loquats as "misbeliefs" (from the Louisiana Creole word for the tree, mísplís) and they grow in the yards of many homes.
Description
E. japonica is a large, evergreen shrub or small tree, with a rounded crown, short trunk, and woolly new twigs. The tree can grow to 5–10 m (16–33 ft) tall but is often smaller, about 3–4 m (10–13 ft). The fruit begins to ripen during spring to summer, depending on the temperature in the area. The leaves are alternate, simple, 10–25 cm (4–10 in) long, dark green, and tough and leathery in texture, with a serrated margin, and densely velvety-hairy below with thick yellow-brown pubescence; the young leaves are also densely pubescent above, but this soon rubs off.
Fruit Loquats are unusual among fruit trees in that the flowers appear in the autumn or early winter, and the fruits are ripe at any time from early spring to early summer. The flowers are 2 cm (3⁄4 in) in diameter, white, with five petals, and produced in stiff panicles of three to 10 flowers, which have a sweet, heady aroma that can be smelled from a distance. Loquat fruits, growing in clusters, are oval, rounded, or pear-shaped, 3–5 cm (1+1⁄8–2 in) long, with a smooth or downy, yellow or orange, sometimes red-blushed skin. The succulent, tangy flesh is white, yellow, or orange and sweet to subacid or acid, depending on the cultivar. Each fruit contains up to ten ovules, with three to five being the most common. Several ovules mature into large, brown seeds (with different numbers of seeds appearing in each fruit on the same tree, usually between one and four).
Taxonomy
The first European record of the species might have been in the 17th century by Michał Boym, a Polish Jesuit, orientalist, politician, and missionary to China. He described loquat in his Flora sinensis, the first European natural history book about China. The common name for the fruit is from the Portuguese nêspera (from the modified nespilus, originally mespilus, which referred to the medlar), (José Pedro Machado, Dicionário Etimológico da Língua Portuguesa, 1967). Since the first contact of the Portuguese with the Japanese and Chinese dates also from the 16th century, possibly some were brought back to Europe, as was likely the case with other species such as the 'Hachiya' persimmon variety. E. japonica was again described in Europe by Carl Peter Thunberg, as Mespilus japonica in 1780, and was relocated to the genus Eriobotrya (from Greek εριο, "wool" and βοτρυών, "cluster") by John Lindley, who published these changes in 1821. This fruit is also found in abundance in the northwest Pakistan region. The largest and sweetest variety is 'Peluche', with fruits weighing about 70 g each and brix around 16, found mainly in Spain. A famous variety is the late-ripening 'Tanaka', from Portugal, where it is popular in gardens and backyards, but not commercially produced. Other widely cultivated varieties are 'Algerie', 'Claudia', and 'BRT 20'.
Distribution and habitat The plant is originally from China, where related species can be found growing in the wild. It grows in places where suitable winter temperatures are generally above 10°F or -12°C, such as Georgia, Argentina, Armenia, Afghanistan, Australia, Azerbaijan, Bermuda, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Greece, Kenya, Syria, India, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Türkiye, Israel, Palestine, Jordan, South Africa, the whole Mediterranean Basin, Pakistan, New Zealand, Réunion, Tonga, Central America, Mexico, South America and warmer parts of the United States such as Hawaii, California, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, with a maximal range comprising coastal Oregon and Washington, southern Tennessee, and most of North Carolina, in places with a favorable humid subtropical climate with relatively mild winters. China is the largest producer worldwide (400,000 t annually), with Spain being the second with 41,487 t annually, half of which is destined for export markets.
Cultivation
History The plant has been cultivated in China for over 1,000 years. Chinese immigrants are presumed to have carried the loquat to Hawaii and California. It has been cultivated in Japan for about 1,000 years and presumably the fruits and seeds were brought back from China to Japan by the many Japanese scholars visiting and studying in China during the Tang dynasty. Over 800 loquat cultivars exist in Asia. Self-fertile variants include the 'Gold Nugget' and 'Mogi' cultivars. The loquat is easy to grow in subtropical to mild temperate climates, where it is often primarily grown as an ornamental plant, especially for its sweet-scented flowers, and secondarily for its delicious fruit. The boldly textured foliage adds a tropical look to gardens.
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