Flowering Quince (Chaenomeles speciosa (Sweet) Nakai)
Also known as Chinese quince, Japanese quince; also classified as Chaenomeles lagenaria (Loisel.) Koidz., Pyrus speciosa (Sweet) M.F.Fay & Christenh.
Most authorities, including USDA PLANTS, BONAP, iNaturalist, and some primary literature published as recently as 2021, use the name Chaenomeles lagenaria (Loisel.) Koidzumi to refer to this species, but POWO instead treats it as a synonym of Maule's quince (Chaenomeles japonica) and also marks it as nom. superfl. We could not resolve these discrepancies. However, we note that all the sources we were able to find, other than POWO, used Chaenomeles lagenaria as a synonym for this species and not C. japonica. For now, we reject POWO's treatment as we found no justification for it and it seems not to be acknowledged by anyone. Even if it is technically correct (i.e. if the type specimen referred to by that name refers to the other species), it is not useful for resolving the names as used in most sources as they consistently use the name to refer to this species.
↑Range - Expand
Legend | Color |
Introduced | |
Introduced or Not Present |
This tentative map is based on our own research. It may have limited data on Canada and/or Mexico, and there is some subjectivity in our assignment of plants as introduced vs. expanded. Read more in this blog post.
This species is also introduced in southeast Mexico, but we have yet to build this portion of its range map.
↑Notes
We recommend against the common name "Japanese quince" as it also refers to Maule's quince (Chaenomeles japonica). The use of that name to refer to this species is particularly misleading as this species is not native to Japan, only to mainland China.
↑Links & External Resources
• Chaenomeles speciosa (flowering quince) | USDA PLANTS Database (About This Site)
• Chaenomeles speciosa | Go Botany (About This Site)
• Chaenomeles speciosa (Flowering Quince) | Missouri Botanical Garden Plant Finder (About This Site)
• Common Floweringquince | Virginia Tech Dendrology Factsheets (About This Site)
• Chaenomeles speciosa | Biota of North America Project (BONAP) (About This Site)
• Chaenomeles lagenaria (Loisel.) Koidz. | Plants of the World Online (POWO) (About This Site)
• Chaenomeles speciosa | NatureServe Explorer (About This Site)
• Chaenomeles speciosa | Flora of North America (About This Site)
• Chaenomeles speciosa | Missouri Plants (About This Site)
• Flowering Quince | Maryland Biodiversity Project (About This Site)
• Chaenomeles speciosa (Sweet) Nakai (Flowering Quince) | Digital Atlas of the Virginia Flora (About This Site)