A biology professor at the University of Cincinnati is warning that a non-native pear tree species is killing off native Ohio pear trees, and creating a variety of problems for the local ecosystem.
Though this sort of sounds like a ridiculous, made up headline (“Killer Pear Tree Species Threatens Locals!”), it’s a very real situation. Theresa Culley made her announcement to botanists and biologists at UC’s McMicken College of Arts and Sciences during a Society of Economic Botany conference.
The Callery Pear Tree in Cincinnati
The Callery pear, which is also called the Bradford pear or Pyrus calleryana, migrated from China to Europe in the nineteenth century. A hundred years later, this pear tree was imported to the United States and started to pop up in urban and suburban neighborhoods across the country. In the 1990s, the Callery pear was a very popular tree to plant along roadways and median strips, and at one point was named “Urban Street Tree of the Year.”
The Callery pear is a beautiful tree, with white flower blossoms that bloom in the spring, and leaves that turn deep purple in the fall. The trees are known for their “lollipop” shape, and for being easy to maintain and groom, so they were an obvious choice for many homeowners and municipalities.
When they first arrived in the United States, though, these trees were plagued by weak trunks. Older Callery pear trees would snap and fall over in heavy winds or snowstorms, or would split right down the middle.
Botanists learned how to grow a sturdier version of the tree, and it’s this mutated Callery that is going wild in Cincinnati’s forested areas.
The Callery pear tree secretes a chemical in the leaves it drops in the fall which leaches into the soil and can kill other trees near it. It also holds its leaves at least a month longer than other pear trees, which creates other competitive issues and endangers other trees.
What to Do About the Leafy Menace?
What is being done about this arboreal nightmare? Well, for starters, it is now illegal to plant a Callery pear tree in Ohio. That doesn’t mean that you need to go out and cut down a Callery pear tree that is growing in your yard, but it does mean that if you’re planning or planting any new trees now, you shouldn’t include a Callery pear.
As the trees are damaged or die off, they are being replaced with other varieties of trees that don’t threaten native species.
We Can Help!
Whether you’re worried about Callery pear trees, or any other types of trees in your yard, we can help! We can provide expert tree service advice on how to best care for your backyard trees and keep them safe from invasive species. We can also offer expert advice on what types of trees to plant, so you don’t come to regret your choice later.
