BATS AND LOQUATS

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The loquat tree is a native of southeastern China and has grown in southern Japan for at least one thousand years.

The loquat tree, its perfumed flowers and fruit, have long been an inspiration for poetry, paintings and ceramics. Its succulent fruit causes even non-poetic loquat-eaters to speak lyrically in its praise.

The taste of a loquat has been compared to plums, cherries, and apricots with a citrusy tang. As a member of the Rosaceae family, the loquat is related to all of those fruits.

The shape of a loquat, 3 to 5 centimetres long, can be egg-shaped, pear-shaped or round.

The texture of a loquat can be crisp or juicy.

The delectable flesh of a loquat can be white, yellow or orange.

The thin skin of a loquat can be yellow or orange, sometimes blushed with red. The skin can be smooth or fuzzy. Fuzziness also occurs in other parts of the loquat tree.

The underside of the big evergreen leaves is woolly and the new twigs of the tree are woolly. This characteristic is recognized in the plant's Latin name, Eriobotrya japonica.

The loquat tree now grows in many tropical countries but Japan remains the major producer of loquat fruit.

Nonhuman animals, including bats and birds, revel in the perfumed sweetness of the loquat fruit and disperse its seeds in the wild.

Big fruit bat (Artibeus lituratus) loquat planter
Photograph: David Liebman, Lubee Bat Conservancy

The appreciative attention given to loquats by bats and birds is not welcomed by commercial growers and private tree owners. However, the Earth welcomes insurance for the loquat's genetic heritage that is provided by the bat-bird planting of wild trees.

Commercial production of loquats provides employment and income for human beings. A considerable amount of employee time is spent in an effort to supply the buying public with perfect, unblemished loquat fruits.

An individual loquat cannot be easily snapped from its cluster. The stem is tough and the force required will tear the fruit's delicate skin. The cluster must be cut from the tree and each fruit must be carefully cut from the cluster.