Scarlet-fruited hawthorn

Mespilus coccinea — Scarlet Azarole

The scarlet azarole tree gets its name from the flamboyant, vivid red color of its captivating fruits. Originally from North America, this tree was long referred to as a medlar in scholarly botanical classifications. Poiteau himself advocated for retaining the term "azarole tree," arguing that nature had given each of these two groups such distinct exteriors that no grower would ever confuse them, just as no one would imagine equating an apricot tree with a plum tree.

It is a small tree, rarely exceeding 7 meters in height, forming an elegant conical crown. Its oval leaves, 6 to 10 centimeters long, are finely toothed and a bright, tender green on the surface, paler and slightly downy on the underside. In spring, the tree is covered with white flowers gathered in corymbs, releasing a delicate hawthorn scent. The fruits ripen around September: the size of a musket ball, a magnificent scarlet nuanced with a slight white powder, they contain yellow, watery, and sweet flesh, pleasantly tart. The azarole tree is cultivated both for its delicious fruits and its ornamental beauty.

This plate is taken from Pierre-Antoine Poiteau and Pierre Jean François Turpin's Traité des Arbres Fruitiers (Treatise on Fruit Trees), a botanical encyclopedia published between 1807 and 1835, and a major reference in 19th-century naturalistic illustration.
It combines the rigor of scientific drawing with a rare artistic sensibility, characteristic of the great plates from the golden age of illustrated botany.