Pyramidal tree to 15 m; lvs elliptic to subrotund, finely and rather bluntly serrulate, involute in bud, glabrous at maturity; fls white, 2.5-3 cm wide; hypanthium nearly closed by a ring of tissue at the summit, surrounding the free styles; anthers red; cal persistent; fr pyriform to obovoid, 6-15 cm, containing stone-cells; 2n=34. Eurasian cultigen, occasionally escaped.
Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.