Flora of the Southeastern United States

*Eriobotrya japonica (Thunberg) Lindley. Common name: Loquat, Japanese-medlar. Habitat: Suburban woodlands, uncommonly cultivated, sometimes naturalizing, and potentially invasive in the deeper South. Distribution: Native of ec. China. Reported for Lowndes County, GA (Carter, Baker, & Morris 2009). Also reported for LA. Reported for SC (Congaree National Park, Richland County) and appearing in additional locations in SC (Bradley et al. [in prep]). Reported for AR (Serviss & Serviss 2020).

Origin/Endemic status: E. and se. Asia

Taxonomy Comments: We disagree with the regressive proposal to merge Eriobotrya (and many other genera) into Pyrus (Christenhusz, Fay, & Byng 2018). The less radical proposal to merge Eriobotrya into Rhaphiolepis (Liu et al. 2020a) needs additional consideration; the name in Rhaphiolepis proposed for our single species by Liu et al. (2020a) was invalid, but was corrected in Liu et al. (2020b).

Synonymy ⓘ: = FNA9, K4, WH3; = n/a — RAB; = Pyrus bibas (Lour.) M.F.Fay & Christenh. — Christenhusz, Fay, & Byng (2018); = Rhaphiolepis bibas (Lour.) Galasso & Banfi — Liu et al (2020b); = Rhaphiolepis loquata B.B.Liu & J.Wen — Liu et al (2020a), invalid name; Mespilus japonica Thunberg. Basionym: Mespilus japonica Thunb. 1784

Links to other floras: = Eriobotrya japonica - FNA9

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Wetland Indicator Status:

• Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain: UPL
• Great Plains: UPL