Medlar is a small deciduous tree to 6m with good autumn foliage, spring flowers, and a useful rounded shape. The small edible fruits must be ‘bletted’--Allowed to over-ripen, becoming soft to the touch--before they can be eaten. Several different fruiting cultivars are available. Shakespeare refers to the fruit somewhat lewdly in Romeo's Queen Mab soliloquy in Romeo and Juliet.