Japanese Quince Tree

Quince is a very fragrant yellow fruit used to make jams and jellies.

Japanese quince tree. Quinces vary in shape. It is best known for its colorful spring flowers of red. The fruit is called kusa boke 草木瓜 kusa boke in japanese. These cannot be eaten raw but make excellent jelly or preserve.

We have planted a fair bit of japanese quince chaenomeles speciosa in our gardens over the years all of them grown successfully from seed. The botanical name for japanese quince is chaenomeles japonica. Quinces are often confused with the shrub chaenomeles japanese quince the fruit of which is also edible. Many are the shape of an apple while others resemble a pear.

These slightly edible fruits are not to be confused with the fruit most commonly known as quince from the cydonia oblonga. The fruit on a flowering quince is edible but the fruit on a flowering or japanese quince is extremely tart. The tree has been grown by landscape architects for its attractive. Speciosa growing to only about 1 m in height.

Quince trees have near relatives in ornamental shrubs that are known as flowering quince chaenomeles speciosa and japanese quince chaenomeles japonica. It is shorter than another commonly cultivated species c. The quince ˈ k w ɪ n s. Don t be fooled by the quince in the name.

Japanese flowering quince shrubs chaenomeles spp are a heritage ornamental plant with a brief but memorably dramatic floral display flowering quince plants light up the spring for a few weeks with a blaze of colorful blooms. The species name japonica is the latin word for japanese. The genus name chaenomeles is the greek word for split apple a reference to the flower produced by these plants as well as the apple shaped fruit. This species is an old one and has been cultivated in asia for thousands of years.

Japanese chaenomeles isn t a tree it s a shrub that can be trained as a hedge or wall climber or left shrub shaped. Initially i was disappointed by the rock hard sour fruits that arrived in the fourth year after sowing but have always had an appreciation for the profuse beautiful reddish pink. Quinces are long lived ornamental medium sized flowering trees with pretty blossom in mid may and good autumn colour but they are mainly grown for their fruit. Are fruits on flowering quince edible.