flower buds of this plant can be killed by late spring frosts
Flowers
peach color, double, almost two inches, saucer shaped flowers,
Fruit
apple shaped, green pome turns to yellow, unpalatable if eaten raw, can be made into preserves, cultivars may not produce an abundance of fruit, many have sterile flowers
Leaves
simple, alternate, dark green, lustrous above, glabrous below
Stems
twiggy, spiny
Dimensions
4-5 by 4-5 feet
Maintenance
can be cut back hard, flowers borne on year old wood prune after flowering
Native Site
Species plant native to Japan and China.
Misc Facts
Stems can be collected in mid-winter, brought in and forces to bloom. Genus name comes from Greek chainein meaning to split and melea meaning apple in reference to a one time mistaken belief that the fruit produced by this shrub was split into five parts.
Notes & Reference
#01-Manual of Woody Landscape Plants (Michael Dirr), #132-Dwarf Shrubs for the Midwest (Rebecca McIntosh Keith, F.F. Giles)), #144-Missouri Botanical Gardens web site (www.missouribotanicalgarden.org)