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Plant diseases
Mespilus germanica is only rarely attacked by diseases or harmed by insects.

In plantations, the larvae of the leaf-mining butterfly species Lithocolletis blancardella can cause damage. Furthermore, especially in years with high precipitation, the fungus Monilia fructigena can be a problem. It causes brown blemishes on the fruit and continues to spread until the fruit becomes entirely rotten.

Mespilus germanica can also be infected by Podosphaera clandestine, the pathogen of powdery mildew, which can lead to the wilting of leaves and buds aswell as by entomosporium mespili that causes leaf spots.

The medlar is, like other species of the rosacea family which are used for propagation, susceptible to Erwinia amylovora, the parasitic causative agent of fire blight.

Trivia
While Mespilus germanica is being mostly forgotten, tropical fruits are appearing which are also marked with medlar. It is the loquat (Ehobotrya japonica), a distant relative of the medlar with completely different fruit properties and color.

Bilder:

https://www.yumpu.com/de/document/read/10025406/die-mispel (Magazin Öko Obstbau: 4/2009)