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| (Fig. 01) |
Pictures Notes: This is another one of the earliest blossoming trees here in southern Nevada. There are nearly a dozen of these ornamental trees planted in the parking lot of our local Paseo Verde Library (Fig. 03). Every year in the early spring, usually the end of February here, Just walking through the parking lot and looking up into the trees (Figs. 04 &05) you are captivated by their stark beauty. Every spring I look forward to seeing these beautiful trees yet once again.
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(Fig. 02)
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Description: The Chanticleer Pear (Pyrus calleryana), also known in the U.S. as the Bradford Pear, it is also called the Callery Pear, and is native to China and Vietnam. This is a deciduous tree that grows from 16 to 26 feet, often with a conic rounded crown. The leaves are pointed oval 1.6 to 3.1 inches, glossy dark green on top and slightly paler on the bottom. In spring it radiates beautiful white flower clusters (Figs. 01 & 02). Its white, five-petaled flowers are about 0.79 to 0.98 inches in diameter. They are produced abundantly in early spring, before the leaves expand fully. After flowering in the spring time, it produces small round hard fruit, quite bitter in taste. In summer, the foliage is dark green and very smooth, and in autumn the leaves commonly turn brilliant colors, ranging from yellow and orange to more commonly red, pink, purple, and bronze. Sometimes, several of these fall colors may be present on an individual leaf. However, since the color often develops very late in fall, the leaves may be killed by a hard frost before full color can develop. The Chanticleer pear keeps its leaves into late November.
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| (Fig. 03) |
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| (Fig. 04) |
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| (Fig. 05) |
