Flowering Quince.

Dax

are there others in the hood that are ARMED???

apparently you dont want to piss off a quince, man. it'll kill ya ... [of course those 2 inch dagger thorns dont help]

ken

Couldn't it be crabapple?

An unarmed tree such as this bears neither spines nor thorns. It does have however beautiful mottled, flaky bark. This is not Chaenomeles.
apologies to Trini Lopez

Here is a link that might be useful: Impossible to eat

sam. I hate you. I'm going to have that song in my brain all day.

btw.. i was not confirming the quince ID.. it doesnt remind me of mine..

i was just making a joke.. lame as it might be ..

ken

Seriously though ....

Here is a link that might be useful: Chaenomeles

Some more clues:

-This of often a single-stemmed tree.
-Today it is in it's own genus, not Chaenomeles
-The genus is unarmed
-This is not the commercial quince. The large fruit is
wonderfully fragrant, but I've never tried to eat it.

Pseudocydonia sinensis?

Does the "wonderfully fragrant fruit" produce the scent before or after it is opened/cut? On the tree? I'm assuming so since you haven't tried to taste it.
hortster

Bingo! and we have a winner in denninmi. Pseudocydonia makes a smallish, upright tree with great fall color, caution - it is vulnerable to fireblight.
In October I bring the large fruits inside and put them in a bowl, their fragrance fills the whole room. They last for several weeks.

Great idea on the fruit! I have three of these and can never figure out what to do with the fruit, which is sometimes enormous (if I don't remove some of them they will break the branches). Some people make jelly with it but I don't do preserves. I will do as you suggest next time! Thx.

This is not the commercial Quince which is grown in orchards. I don't see why one couldn't cut or hack up the fruit with a cleaver, cook it up and make jelly. The raw fruit has a really great fragrance. Otherwise, it is hard on the lawn mower.
{{gwi:333166}}

Chaenomeles = flowering quince
Cydonia = common quince
Pseudocydona = Chinese quince

Aegle = Bengal quince

The Aegle has landed.

Have two young Pseudocydonia seedlings (~6 yrs old) growing in my yard - the fall color display is spectacular orange-red.
No flowers or fruit, yet, from these, and they've not yet begun to develop the attractive exfoliating bark - but I've seen photos that rival the appearance of some of the best crepe myrtles and eucalyptus.

Another pic of the subject of this thread. I took this today at the Nat'l Bonsai Collection @ Nat'l Arboretum. Some fruits are developing at the top. This is a really splendid collection of bonsai.
{{gwi:333167}}

I grow the cydonia, have two of them in my orchard. They are also very prone to fireblight, but have kept it under control for about ten years now without chemicals. Typically one does not refer to quince trees as flowering quince. It is reserved for the spiny, shrubby Chaenomeles. I do indeed make jellies and leathers from mine, and quince trees were a very common tree in years past because they, like crabapples, are high in pectin and used for jelly making either alone or in combination with other fruits. To say a fruiting quince is flowering is ......uhm...redundant. Most fruit trees flower, no? My friend, who propagated these trees for me also grows the pseudocydonia, I believe. This year, I am overstocked with fruit and am not making jellies from them, but find willing takers amoung the older farm ladies in this community. One cannot find quince at markets and the one time I found them at farmer's market about ten years ago, cost seven dollars for a small basket of them just large enough for a run of jelly. The flowers of both the quince tree and the asian version are exquisite and enough reason to plant them. Ditto with the fruit being very fragrant.