Pyrus calleryana

Callery Pear at Watson, ACT

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Pyrus calleryana abread111 22 Apr 2024
Pyrus calleryana abread111 22 Apr 2024

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Mt Majura Nature Reserve begins at the fence line behind the roses in the second pic

12 comments

   21 Mar 2025
Hi

I have the same question

Do you think this was planted deliberately, or sown by seed dispersal or grown from a sucker?

Thanks,
Kate
   21 Mar 2025
This looks like a street planting across the road from the nature reserve. Seed dispersal into the nature reserve could come from these trees, but the sighting should not be attributed to birds. TCCS should be able to advise which Pyrus sp. these are, but my list goes only to 2001.
   21 Mar 2025
Thank you!
   21 Mar 2025
   21 Mar 2025
Yes, indeed I took this photo of the street planting last autumn, showing the different stages of leaf colouring. There are a least 2 cultivars planted in this short section of street. The three northern most trees also flowered at a slightly different time to the others.

Sorry Mike, I deleted the comment about birds - I was doing the comments on my phone and must have got the wrong sighting.
   26 Mar 2025
It is hard to see, but in the third photo is are there sprouts at the base of the tree, ie is it suckering? Or is it just shadows?
   26 Mar 2025
Don't think this tree has suckers. But one on another tree at the south end of the planting.
   26 Mar 2025
hi there
the Callery Pears that we recorded in this part of Mt Majura nature reserve are dispersed by birds from these street trees; young CP began to appear 3 years ago and there are no records of CP before that time; CPs were planted as a street tree when The Fair residential estate was developed in 2011/12. On behalf of the Friends of Mt Majura I tried to convince the developer, the landscape architect and the Government to not plant invasive species but was not successful. Birds that are adaptive to urban development such as Pied Currawong dramatically increased in numbers in the reserve east of The Fair and are the most likely candidates of spreading CP.
   26 Mar 2025
Thank you.

It is good to know which species in Australia seem to be spreading the seeds.

It is also good to see the time frame in Australia for the CP to go from Introduction to Establishment to Lag and then to Spread, which are the stages that invasive weeds go through before they reach the Ecological Impacts, and then Human Impacts stages. You have the dates that the development and planting happened.

So it is now well into the Spread stage, which started 3 years ago. So it took about ten years for the Spread stage to start.

I hope we can get this stopped before the Ecological Impact stage starts.
   26 Mar 2025
I have just been to Forest 87 at the National Arboretum. This is Callery pear 'Chanticleer' planted in 2009. There is fruit on the trees and some suckers. I will add this sighting for information.
The Pyrus calleryana and Pyrus sp. I have reported in nature reserves are young plants - I have not seen flowers yet and there are no suckers.
   26 Mar 2025
Thank you. Thank goodness they have not reached a size that they are fruiting yet.


Btw, In my previous comment I actually meant to say it is good to know which bird species are spreading the seed. In Ohio they identified an exotic bird (starling) and a local bird as the main seed dispersers.
   26 Mar 2025
Kathy, unfortunately they fruit; see Pyrus calleryana (Callery Pear)
I assume they produce fruits since 4 - 5 years.
I can't nail down the exact time of planting of Callery pear along the street; the Fair was developed in 2011/12 (use Google Earth or ACTMapIi) and landscaping happened concurrently.
I'm not sure at which age CP begin to produce fruits but if planted as advanced stock it might take only 5-6 years before they develop fruits.
we observe large flocks of starlings from time to time, they are also new to the area as well as the Black Birds

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Location information

Sighting information

  • 4 - 15 Abundance
  • 22 Apr 2024 12:54 PM Recorded on
  • abread111 Recorded by
  • 1 metre to 5 metres Plant height
  • Alive / healthy Plant health
  • Yes Planted

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Species information

Seasonal activity

  • In flower

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