Pyrus pyraster

A variable, upright, rounded or spreading shrub or small tree to 7m, with thorny branches and broadly oval, dark green foliage producing red, orange and yellow shades in autumn. Pink-edged, white blossom in mid- to late spring is followed by spherical green fruit, sometimes flushed with red, which is hard and inedible until it falls from the tree in late summer to early autumn, becoming softer and sweeter