PSC 2620: Woody Trees and ShrubCourse HomeWeek 7

Pyrus calleryana - Bradford Callery Pear

Plant Viewer
Showy white flowers blanket the tree in the spring. Small pome fruit forms on the tree during the summer. The fruit is small and either green or brown in color.
The leaves are a bright glossy green color and ovate in shape. The bark is grayish-brown with prominent lenticels.

Plant Description

Pyrus calleryana or Bradford Callery Pear is a popular flowering tree used extensively throughout the country. It grows 30-50 feet high and 20-35 feet wide, forming an upright-rounded form. It has a medium or fast growth rate. The bark is a grayish-brown color with prominent horizontal lenticels.

The flowers emerge in early spring before the leaves emerge. They are very attractive and have a faint odor. People seem to either adore or hate the scent of the blossoms. The flowers are white and form in 3 inch wide corymbs. It is one of the showiest blooming trees with the flowers covering the tree. Following the blossoms, small pome fruit, 1/2 inch in diameter, forms on the tree. It is green-brown color.

The leaves are ovate, 1 1/2 - 3 inches long and a glossy dark green. The leaf is somewhat thick and leathery feeling. The margin of the leaf is crenate. In the fall the leaves turn an attractive mixture of purples, reds and oranges.

Landscape Use

Because it handles poor soils well and has showy blossoms, it is very popular street tree and parking lot tree. It can be used as a shade tree or lawn tree as well.

Points of interest

Because the branches emerge at a tight angle from the trunk, many flowering pears are marred by the loss of main branches due to winds or snowloads. I have seen flowering pears literally break in half down the middle of the tree.

Flowering pears are also considerably susceptible to fireblight.

Notable Cultivars

Aristocrat It has an upright form growing to 35 feet high and 15 feet wide. It is a good selection for street trees because of its upright branching habit. It tends to have less branch breakage because the limbs branch at less of an angle.


Capital A very tight and columnar form. It grows to 30 feet tall and only 8 feet wide.


Chanticleer It has a good pyramidal form growing 35 feet high and about half that as wide.


Autumn Blaze It has an upright pyramidal form and is the most cold-hardy of the flowering pears. Has bright red fall color.