Apple
Malus domesticaApple grows into a low, wide tree with oval, finely toothed leaves that are fuzzy underneath. In spring, clusters of deep pink buds open into white blossom.
How to identify apple →
Lookalikes
Apple or pear?
Pear is another orchard tree, thick with fruiting spurs like apple, and white with blossom in spring.
The quickest check
The quickest check is the flower colour, and when. Apple: white with a pink flush, from deep pink buds, in May. Pear: white all over, in April, before the leaves are fully out. No flowers on the tree? Check where the stalk goes in.
At a glance
| Look at | Apple | Pear |
|---|---|---|
| Flower colour, and when | White with a pink flush, from deep pink buds, in May | White all over, in April, before the leaves are fully out |
| Where the stalk goes in | Hollowed round the stalk | Tapering straight into a long, slender stalk |
| Trunk | Shallow flat scales in greys and browns | Dark, cracked into small knobbly oblongs |
| Top of a leaf | Dull, matt and often crumpled | Leathery, glossy and blackish green |
Four ways to tell them apart
Flower colour, and whenFlowers
Where the stalk goes inApples
TrunkBark
Top of a leafLeaves
The two trees
Pear
Pyrus communisPear grows into an upright, slender tree with dark bark cracked into small knobbly blocks. In April, clusters of white blossom cover the crown.
In the app
See them side by side in Treely
- Both trees, part by partLeaves, bark, buds, flowers and fruit, photographed through the year
- Every lookalike side by sideThe checks that settle it, for every pair people mix up
- A short round each dayUntil you can tell them apart at a glance
- The full GuideBoth trees written up in full, with where to find them
Free to download.
Every fact on this page is checked against the Collins Tree Guide, last in November 2026. Spotted something that looks wrong in front of a real tree? Tell us. How we check.
Photographs: steve_mcwilliam (CC0), stevencross3 (CC0), chrisdt (CC BY 4.0), bobwardell (CC0). With thanks to everyone who shares their photographs on iNaturalist and Wikimedia Commons.