Tree of the Week: The Loquat

The Loquat Tree -- Eriobotrya japonica

It’s hard not to like the loquat. The tree is small, easy to grow, doesn’t need much room, has big-veined tropical-looking leaves, fragrant flowers and attractive, small-plum-sized golden yellow fruit. Grown from seed it produces acceptable fruit, but for really tasty and large fruit it is wise to plant one of a wide selection of grafted varieties such as "Champagne" (in warm areas), "Gold Nugget" (in cooler parts) or MacBeth (for very large fruit).

Indigenous to southeastern China, the tree had a long cultural history there and in Japan before it reached Paris and London in the late 1780s. It was common in California by the 1870s. The tree is widely grown in warm countries. It is a member of the rose family.

The evergreen loquat grows to some 15 to 30 feet tall and wide. The gray trunk has a tendency to become multi-stemmed. New wood may be a little brittle; it helps to build up a strong framework when the tree is young.  New branches have a woolly feel. The tree is ornamental even without the fruit, but flowers and fruit are a nice bonus. Leaves are 6 to 12 inches long, starkly veined and netted; they are often used for decorations. Flowers are borne in fall or winter in clusters of fragrant, off-white flowers.

In the Southland the fruit ripens in spring. It always contains several large shiny brown seeds. Fruit is at its sweetest when just at the point that it begins to shrivel. It can be eaten fresh or used in pies or preserves. Food production is best in full sun, but the tree will take half shade, regular water to half-dry conditions and most any soil. Although the tree is easy to take care of, it can succumb to some diseases, including pear blight, Phytophthora and leaf spots caused by fungi.

The related bronze loquat, E. deflexa, is an ornamental tree with leaves less leathery and more copper in color than the edible loquat. It does not produce edible fruit.

--Pieter Severynen

Photo: Pieter Severynen

Comments

[Patricia Campbell]

My neighbor has one of these trees right on our property line and hanging over my garage which has become home for the creatures who feast upon it.. One result has been an ongoing battle with rat infestation for me to deal with. Further, the tree is dirty in that it drops fruit almost all year around and I have to deal with that mess too. I would gladly send this tree back to China as another hazardous product not fit for import.

[h]

One drawback is that it seeds itself around quite readily. Another is the mess of smashed fruit--the fruitless kind is a much better choice if you want it for ornamental purposes only. Also having it laced out every few years makes it much better looking. Over all though, a pretty nice smaller tree.

[syscom3]

An invasive species that has no business being in our semi-arid climate.

Chop them down and get rid of them. Only California native species should be permitted here!

[dante]

I love the fruit that is grown on this tree. As a child in South Central L.A there was an older couple that had a loqaut tree in their yard. My fellow classmates and I use to raid the tree w/no permission when the fruit were in bloom and ripe. Until one day the owner chased us away, we stayed away for a year from his yard.

Then in my fifth grade year as friends and I were walking pass his house he asked if we would like to pick the fruit from the tree as long as we did not break the branches, we all answered "yes" with enthusiasm. Within a two weeks the tree was almost bare from me and other students packing our backpacks, plastic bags, and our hands with the fruit. I graduated from grade school and according to younger sibling It became tradition.

Now that I read the comments above, I think he realized after chasing us off my classmates and I were actually "maintaining" the tree. Keeping his yard and sidewalk clean of the fruit and also keeping rodents and birds away.

Ahh good memories.

[Joy S.]

I grew up in L.A. and the loquat remains my favorite fruit. I can't imagine having a rat problem or a smushed fruit problem. This isn't a fruit that drops until it is way past its prime. Just pick them as they ripen and eat them, or bring them to work and give them away, or put out a bowl of them at the curb with a sign that says "free loquats." The kids of the neighborhood will love you, you won't have a reason to fight with your neighbors. P.S. they sell for about $7 a pound in New York, Paris and Amsterdam...that's when you can find them, which isn't often. And they're not as good as our own tree-ripened fruit.

[RZ]

I have one but I'm not the biggest fan. The tree's leaves dry up pretty fast, which leaves a lot to be picked up. Plus the tree is over-fruitful, and we end up with more loquats than we can eat. The squirrels, possums, raccoons, and birds don't eat much so we don't get help from them in this respect.