Report Callery pear

Callery pear (Pyrus calleryana) has become an aggressive invasive species in many parts of the United States, outcompeting native trees and forming dense monocultures. And though this non-native species may have pretty flowers in the spring, they sure smell terrible!

Callery pear infestation in Connecticut. Photo by Anne Arundel, Chesapeake Bay Program.

How you will help

Report naturalized Callery pear trees. Early detection is key to controlling new invasive species. You can help researchers, land managers and policymakers generate data on the distribution and density of Callery pear by submitting unreported sightings in iNaturalist or EDDMapS.

If you are using iNaturalist, please click the "It is captive or cultivated" choice in the iNaturalist report if the tree is tended, like in a yard or park.
If you are using EDDMapS, please only submit a report if you find Callery pear in untended natural areas. Callery pears in tended areas should not be reported.

Watch this 1:24 minute video to learn how to report to iNaturalist.

Watch this 2:11 minute video to learn how to report to EDDMapS.

Identification

Learn to identify Callery pear. Callery pear trees usually bloom about two weeks before apples and crabapples. Last year in Minnesota they started blooming in mid-April.

Watch this 3:53 minute video from Penn State Extension for an overview of Callery pear identification. Then review the images below to see the differences between Callery pear and common look-alikes.

Callery pear flowers

These are likely to be the very first blooms in the spring. The five-petaled white flowers commonly smell like vomit, rotting fish or wet animal waste. Callery pear flower. Photo by Dan Tenaglia, Missouriplants.com, Bugwood.org.

Malus spp flowers

The white, pink, red or purple five-petaled flowers can look similar Callery pear, but Malus species smell wonderful. Domestic apple, Malus domestica, photo by Howard F. Schwartz, Colorado State University, Bugwood.org.

Callery pear bark

Callery pear bark is brown and furrowed. Photo by Chuck Bargeron, University of Georgia, Bugwood.org.

Malus spp bark

Malus spp. bark is gray and flaky. Photo by Becca MacDonald, Sault College, Bugwood.org.

Callery pear fruit

Photo by Chuck Bargeron, University of Georgia, Bugwood.org.

Crabapple fruit

Photo of crabapple fruit iNaturalist by mmmiller.

Learn more

Callery pear is on the Minnesota Noxious Weed Specially Regulated Species list. Starting in 2023, there is a "three-year production phase-out period, after which sale of this species will be prohibited and the species will be designated as Restricted in 2026." Malus spp. are unregulated.

Learn more about the Public Gardens as Sentinels Against Invasive Plants project from the Midwest Invasive Plants Network.

Questions about this project? Contact Angela Gupta, UMN Extension Forester, agupta@umn.edu.

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