Talk:Mespilus

Hardiness
Does anybody know what zone this plant is hardy to?
 * I don't know the limits for sure, but it does well in Canada zone 6b (Toronto). For comparison, that's about the cold limit for growing peaches. Nadiatalent (talk) 23:22, 8 March 2010 (UTC)

Merge suggestion
This article is almost entirely about the Common Medlar, so that there's a huge amount of overlap, and it would seem more sensible simply to merge the latter and redriect it here. --Mel Etitis ( Μελ Ετητης ) 15:20, 6 May 2006 (UTC)
 * Oppose - this page is about the genus Mespilus as a whole (two species), while Common Medlar is about M. germanica in particular; c.f. Stern's Medlar about M. canescens in particular. More valid would be to move some of the stuff specific to M. germanica to that page (particularly the paragraph beginning "The medlar is native to Persia ..."). - MPF 15:58, 6 May 2006 (UTC)
 * Comment. When the genus contains only two species, isn't it normal practice to amalgamate them into one article?  I thought that I'd seen this in other cases. --Mel Etitis  ( Μελ Ετητης ) 21:34, 6 May 2006 (UTC)
 * Comment - this does apply to some genera (including some with far more than two species) but is mainly a hangover of the past when wikipedia was much smaller. - MPF 23:45, 6 May 2006 (UTC)
 * Fair enough. In that case I withdraw trhe merge suggestion for the articles, and leave it for the content as you suggest. --Mel Etitis  ( Μελ Ετητης ) 15:32, 7 May 2006 (UTC)
 * I agree with combining articles Mespilus and Mespilus germanica as Mespilus germanica is the only species in the genus. Mespilus canescens is a hybrid and not a separate species. Now 2 separate articles have much overlap. Mespilus canescens can still have a separate article as a hybrid.

Open-arse
The older English name for the medlar was "open-arse"; looking at the photograph will tell you why. The Chaucer quote has been translated into modern English; the original began:
 * But if I fare as dooth an open-ers --
 * That ilke fruyt is ever lenger the wers,
 * Til it be roten in mullok or in stree.

Angr 09:37, 17 September 2006 (UTC)

Medlar in Piedmont
I'm Italian and I live in Piedmont. I know for a fact that the medlar is NOT appreciated in my region. What is appreciated in Piedmont is another, different fruit: the loquat. The misunderstanding occurs because in Italian, both medlars and loquats are called nespole, but nowadays, if you come to Piedmont and ask for nespole, you will be given loquats. Devil Master 11:08, 17 August 2007 (UTC)

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Changed to disambiguation
As noted above, the loquat meaning and the second species of Mespilus are important meanings. The place in Aberdeenshire is mentioned on the Clan Lumsden page, but I can't find further details about it. Nadiatalent (talk) 10:42, 13 April 2010 (UTC)

Post pictures please
Hi, I posted a picture of medlars I ordered from Scott Farm in Vermont. The file is in the wikimedia commons under the name medlars.JPG. I don't know the syntax, so if someone could post it please, Thanks, EdwinAmi (talk) 20:13, 19 June 2010 (UTC)

Processed like Quince
When you make a jam/jelly out of these, you're supposed to make it out of the raw, un-bletted fruit, and it will turn red and aromatic after boiling for a few hours, just like with quince. The same oxygen-tannin reaction occurs. I have personally tried this so I know that's what happens. If someone could post as much, that'd be great. EdwinAmi (talk) 20:13, 19 June 2010 (UTC)

New source
The Los Angeles Times has a story on this fruit that might make a useful source for this article. WhatamIdoing (talk) 20:08, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

Victorian era?
The page states "Mespilus germanica was a very popular fruit in Western Europe during the Victorian era". Should that be the Elizabethan era? Nadiatalent (talk) 20:02, 19 October 2011 (UTC)

shakespear / dogs arse
in one of his plays, romeo and Juliet, I think, one of the characters comments how he wished, or how happy he'd be if, 'fair lady were more like the open arse fruit'.

ive also known it to be called the dogs arse fruit, and it was the English cottage garden predecessor of the apple. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.5.230.253 (talk) 19:15, 3 June 2013 (UTC)