Apodytes dimidiata aka White Pear

Apodytes dimidiata is a woody plant known as white pear. It keeps its leaves all year, so it is evergreen. It can grow as a shrub or a tree. Kew puts it in the plant family Metteniusaceae. The RHS and Useful Tropical Plants use the family name Icacinaceae. Its native range spans the tropics and southern parts of Africa. It also covers parts of the western Indian Ocean region. It reaches southern China and parts of tropical Asia too. These include India, Myanmar, Malaysia and the Philippines. It is not native to Britain or Ireland.

White pear keeps its leaves through all seasons. Useful Tropical Plants gives a height of about 33 feet [10 metres]. Its wider account says trees can reach 66 feet [20 metres]. It notes that most plants stay below that height. These heights apply to the species as a whole. They do not give a proven size range for gardens. The sources give no width for the crown at full growth. They give no details of leaf shape, bark or branching. The text gives no flower or fruit traits either.

This plant grows in a wide range of wild sites. In southern China, it grows in open woods and dense forest. It grows in scrub there too. Chinese records place it at heights of 1,640–6,234 feet [500–1,900 metres]. In Africa, it grows in coastal bush near sea level. This bush keeps its leaves all year. It also grows at forest edges within woodland and mountain grassland. Kew links it to the wet tropical biome, a broad habitat zone. These records show the range of its native wild sites. They do not show its exact light or water needs in gardens.

Wood is the main use that these sources describe. People cut wild trees for their useful wood. The wood is pale and has a fine grain. It is hard and strong but can bend to some degree. People use it to make fine cabinets and wagons. Useful Tropical Plants rates its other uses three out of five. It lists seed as a way to grow new plants. It does not say how to sow or sprout them.

Useful Tropical Plants lists no known food or medicinal uses. It reports no known hazards for this species either. This does not prove that it is safe for people or pets. The sources give no facts on pests or disease. They give no hardiness rating or tested frost limit. Thus, they tell us little about garden care or landscape uses.