While our monthly EcoQuest Challenge is currently on hiatus, there is one featured species you can be on the lookout for along roadsides or while out on a "social distance walk": Callery pear! Native to China and Vietnam, Callery pear (Pyrus calleryana) was introduced to the United States in the early 1900's. It became popularized in the middle of the century when it was specially cultivated and widely planted in both urban and rural settings due to its ornamental value and disease resistance. Unfortunately, these trees are increasingly escaping into natural areas and wreaking havoc on native habitats. Naturalized Callery pears can spread quickly by seed and vegetative means, forming sizeable patches within several years that shade out and outcompete native plants. It produces copious amounts of seeds that can be carried by birds and small mammals and generally lack insect and disease controls. Callery pears become conspicuous this time of year! They begin erupting into a bloom of bright white, five-petaled flowers at the beginning of April in our PRISM region prior to leaf out. Dark-green, glossy, fine-toothed leaves will soon appear later in the spring and eventually turn a scarlet-purple in the fall. Native trees like serviceberry and crabapples are also blooming white around this time of year and make great native planting alternatives. Serviceberry petals tend to be brighter white and strap-shaped with space between the petals compared to Callery pear's rounder, closely packed petals. Crabapple tree flowers tend to be pinker and its branches are nearer to horizontal and less uniform when compared to the vertical growing structure of the branches of Callery pear. For more spring ID field tips, please watch this video (or click the green button below!) created by Invasive Species Citizen Science Coordinator, Brent Boscarino. And next time you are out and notice a naturalized Callery pear tree(s), snap a photo and post to iNaturalist to help us track its distribution in our region! |