Cydonia oblonga (common quince, "Marumero")

Japanese name: マルメロ
Scientific name: Cydonia oblonga

[Overview]
A deciduous shrub or small tree 3–4.5 m tall, sometimes reaching about 6 m.
It often forms a clump.
Young branches are densely covered with cottony hairs, and the twigs have no thorns.
The leaves are simple and alternate, broadly ovate to broadly elliptic, 5–10 cm long, densely covered with white cottony hairs on the underside, with entire margins.
It flowers after the leaves unfold.
A single flower is borne at the tip of each new shoot; it is five-petaled, white to pale pink, about 4–5 cm across, and the petals have a short claw at the base.
The fruit is elliptic to pear-shaped, about 10 cm long and 5–7.5 cm across; the unripe fruit is green and covered with white to grayish white cottony hairs, but when ripe it turns bright yellow and the hairs gradually fall off.
The fruit is fragrant.

[History]
It has long been cultivated in Europe, and it arrived in Japan at Nagasaki in the early Edo period (1634).
Today it is widely grown in Nagano.

[Uses]
The fruit is hard and very astringent, but it is used for candied fruit, fruit liqueur, jelly, jam and the like.

[Cultivation]
Propagate from seed, by cuttings, by layering, or by grafting.
It prefers a cool climate and suits fertile, sunny, well-drained soil.
For potted plants, water thoroughly when the soil surface dries; for plants in the ground, rainfall is sufficient unless sunny weather continues and the soil dries out.
Apply organic fertilizer in winter, after flowering, and during the fruiting period.
Prune in winter.
It has low self-fertility, so a pollinator tree is needed for the fruit to set.
Pests and diseases include black spot and fruit borers.

[Notes]
The Japanese name derives from the Portuguese marmelo.
In Nagano it is called Karin.

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