mespilusn.
/ˈmɛspᵻləs/, U.S. /ˈmɛspələs/ A medlar tree; (later) spec. a tree or shrub of the genus Mespilus (family Rosaceae), which now contains only the cultivated medlar, M. germanica, and a related North American species; (also) any of various trees and shrubs formerly included in the genus Mespilus but now placed in other genera, esp. any of several kinds of Juneberry (genus Amelanchier); (in form Mespilus) the genus itself.Valid publication of the genus name: Linnaeus Species Plantarum (1753) I. 478.snowy mespilus: see snowy adj.
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the world > plants > particular plants > trees and shrubs > thorny berry-bush > [noun] > hawthorn and allies
hawthorna700
hawthorn-treec1290
whitethorna1300
haw-treec1325
albespyne?a1425
thorn-tree1483
mespilus1548
may-branch1560
quickthorn1571
hedge-bush1576
busket1579
May-bush1579
Neapolitan medlar1597
azarole1658
pyracanth1664
white bush1676
Glastonbury thorna1697
quick1727
evergreen thorn1731
blackthorn1737
whitethorn1788
oriental medlar1797
haw1821
May-haw1840
Maythorn1844
May1848
pear thorn1848
pink thorn1852
aronia thorn1882
scarlet thorn1882
black haw1897
1548 W. Turner Names of Herbes sig. E.iiijv Mespilus..is called in englishe a medler tree.
1629 J. Parkinson Paradisi in Sole iii. ix. 568 Mespilus. The Medlar tree..groweth..to bee a reasonable great tree.
1753 Chambers's Cycl. Suppl. App. Quick, the name by which some call a species of Mespilus, or medlar.
1787 J. Abercrombie Every Man his Own Gardener (ed. 11) 513 Hardy kinds of flowering shrubs and trees..particularly..mezereons, mespilusses.
1836 J. F. Davis Chinese II. xix. 347 The Loquat is a fine fruit of the mespilus kind, not unlike an apricot in colour and appearance.
1885 A. Brassey In Trades 397 Planted..with oranges, lemons, hibiscus, and mespilus.
1998 A. Sturgeon Planted 107 Snowy mespilus, Amelanchier lamarckii. A small, deciduous tree which is a good all-rounder.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2001; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1548