Heavily prevalent in Europe and New Zealand, with a bit in South Africa and couple observations on the west and east coast of America. (https://www.inaturalist

Heavily prevalent in Europe and New Zealand, with a bit in South Africa and couple observations on the west and east coast of America. (https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/1367002-Crataegus-germanica https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/1367002-Crataegus-germanica) The American variety, Stern's Medlar only has a couple observations in Arkansas (https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/1368643-Crataegus---canescens https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/1368643-Crataegus---canesce...) Japanese / Chinese Medlar or Loquat are apparently distantly related, yet still have a lot of similarity and edible food (https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/76949-Eriobotrya-japonica https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/76949-Eriobotrya-japonica) If its included in Crataegus (as Crataegus germanica) then it has a bunch of relations like Hawthorn (also edible, https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/51147-Crataegus-monogyna https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/51147-Crataegus-monogyna) and Azaroles (also edible, Haws, https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/191019-Crataegus-azarolus https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/191019-Crataegus-azarolus) Seems to get heavily mixed in naming with the genus Vangueria in the family Rubiaceae, since they're frequently named Medlar, and have edible fruit, just happen to be mostly from Africa. Really confusing, since they look similar, have similar food, yet apparently different genus, family, and order. Don't cross over until they get all the way up to Clade: Eudicots. Apparently they're attached to bad luck and misfortune, so maybe they got a cursed botanical classification. Wild-Medlar (Vangueria infausta, Africa) https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/340324-Vangueria-infausta https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/340324-Vangueria-infausta Mountain Medlar (Vangueria parvifolia, Africa) https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/595967-Vangueria-parvifolia https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/595967-Vangueria-parvifolia Velvet Wild-Medlar (Vangueria infausta ssp. infausta, Africa) https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/601546-Vangueria-infausta-infausta https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/601546-Vangueria-infausta-i... Bush Medlar (Vangueria madagascariensis, Africa, S. America) https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/466936-Vangueria-madagascariensis https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/466936-Vangueria-madagascar... Natal Medlar (Vangueria lasiantha, Africa) https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/341606-Vangueria-lasiantha https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/341606-Vangueria-lasiantha Waterberg Crowned-Medlar (Vangueria triflora, Africa) https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/595971-Vangueria-triflora https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/595971-Vangueria-triflora Forest Crowned-Medlar (Vangueria bowkeri, Africa) https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/595965-Vangueria-bowkeri https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/595965-Vangueria-bowkeri