Herb: Birch-Leaved Pear


Latin name: Pyrus betulaefolia


Family: Rosaceae (Rose Family)



Medicinal use of Birch-Leaved Pear:

The leaves are used in the treatment of cholera, colic and cramps. The cooked fruit is used to treat mucous diarrhoea.

Description of the plant:



Plant:
Deciduous
Tree

Height:
7.5 m
(25 feet)

Flowering:
April

Habitat of the herb:

Open slopes and plains from sea level to 1800 metres.

Edible parts of Birch-Leaved Pear:

Fruit - raw or cooked. The fruit is quite small, about 15mm in diameter. Leaves - cooked. Flowers. Dried, powdered and made into cakes. The dried leaves are used to make tea.

Other uses of the herb:

This species has long been used as a rootstock for the cultivated pears by the Chinese, it is recently also being used as a rootstock in N. America and in Europe.

Propagation of Birch-Leaved Pear:

Seed - best sown in a cold frame as soon as it is ripe in the autumn, it will then usually germinate in mid to late winter. Stored seed requires 8 - 10 weeks cold stratification at 1°C and should be sown as early in the year as possible. Temperatures over 15 - 20°C induce a secondary dormancy in the seed. Prick out the seedlings into individual pots when they are large enough to handle and grow them on in light shade in a cold frame or greenhouse for their first year. Plant them out in late spring or early summer of the following year.

Cultivation of the herb:

Open slopes and plains from sea level to 1800 metres.

Known hazards of Pyrus betulaefolia:

None known

Plant information taken from the Plants For A Future.