Definition of Callery pear
1
:a deciduous tree (Pyrus calleryana) of the rose family that has upright branches forming a conical crown, heart-shaped glossy leaves with finely serrated margins, showy clusters of white flowers, and small, bitter, brownish round fruits
Note:
The Callery pear is native to China, Japan, Vietnam, and Korea. Its twigs are often tipped with a single thorn.
2
:any of several thornless ornamental cultivars of the Callery pear
- Callery pears … have earned both a 2005 Urban Tree of the Year award … and a place on the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service list of highly invasive plants in the Mid-Atlantic.
- —Susan Milius
- … the campaign to curtail the planting of ornamental Bradford pears (also called callery pears). These trees are notorious for "weakcrotches," which are right where the heavy snow broke off limbs.
- —Michael Martin
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