Loquat Trees
Loquat Trees are evergreen and a rather small tree in height but they spread quite a wide canopy. Their leaves are large and ribbed, glossy on the top and furry on the underside of the leaf.
They produce bunches of white flowers and the flowers are followed by small pear shaped edible fruit which is a light yellow in colour. The fruit of the Loquat tree ripens in the spring and is delicious to eat. When I was a young girl it was alot of fun pinching the fruit off low hanging branches over some ones garden fence and eating it! The Pomegranate is another one you don't see anymore.
They have a rounded brown coloured seed in the centre of the ripened flesh of the fruit. If you have never tried this fruit it is well worth giving it a try as it is quite yummy.
You won't usually see the Loquat trees in a fruit orchard, it seems to be found mainly in people's backyards and was more prevalent back in the 1960's and 1970's, but still can be found growing in house yards today. I recently seen one in season with alot of fruit on it in a town where we were holidaying and I hadn't come across one in a long time. They are usually heavily laden with fruit at this time of year (spring).
The Botanical name for the loquat is: Eriobotrya Japonica.