Pseudocydonia sinensis

Last week, when I was visiting Dumbarton Oaks, I noticed some deep red leaves on the ground.  At first glance, I wondered (irritably) if Dumbarton Oaks used a tree as plebeian as the dreaded Bradford pear.  Those can, despite their other problems, exhibit some lovely rose petal-like fall color.  But rounding the corner, I happily realized this was a different tree.

 

As you can see, the fluted bark is exfoliated and quite different from Pyrus.   Instead, the bark was more similar to Pinus bungeana, or lacebark pine.  The mottling isn't just white, silver, peach and gray, like Platanus, Stewartia or Lagerstroemia, but has an army green color in the bark as well.  It's quite striking.

 

The plant was also a mystery to me; I had no idea what it was.  My best bet was that it was still a relative to Pyrus or at the very least, a member of the Rosaceae family.  Looking up at the canopy, I got another clue.

At the time, a glimpse of these large fruit furthered my belief that this may have been a pear.  Though they are awfully lemon-yellow for a pear, it seemed possible.  I determined I'd have to do a bit more research when I got home to pin down exactly what this was.  

In any case, I was wowed by the contrast between the deep red foliage with the bright yellow fruit. 

It turns out that this was Pseudocydonia sinensis, or Chinese quince.  It's a very rare specimen tree, native to China, that is indeed in the Rosaceae family.  The fall color, fruit and beautiful bark are all characteristic of the species.  For a long time, it was classified in the Cydonia (quince) genus, but the absence of spines ultimately led to its classification in its own genus (P. sinensis is the only species in the genus). Cydonia is not to be confused with the shrub with the same common name, Chaenomeles.