Callery Pear in full bloom at The Fair (W.Pix)
If you think Privets are an environmental disaster, think again: Callery Pear, Pyrus calleryana, the darling of horticulturists and landscapers, is on the march to invade our nature reserves and local bush land.
In September, Friends of Mt Majura (FoMM) wrote to Suzanne Orr, the Minister for Climate Change, Environment, Energy, and Water and other members of the ACT Legislative Assembly to request a change of legislation to declare Callery Pear a pest and remove the four listed cultivars from the Municipal Infrastructure Standard Part 25
See below the letter to S. Orr, Minister for Climate Change, Environment, Energy, and Water, the response from the Minister and additional documentation which was sent to the Minister and the Conservator for Flora and Fauna.
Letter from the Conservator to ParkCare Volunteers
Additional documentation – ACT Invasion of Callery Pear
The American Experience: The Beginning of a New Invasive Plant
FoMM made also presentations to the ACT Conservator for Flora and Fauna and to the Invasive Species Council.
Letter from the conservator of Flora and Fauna in response to ParkCare concerns
Cultivars of Callery Pear were imported from the US where the species and cultivars are now prohibited in a number of states. Cultivars such as the ‘Bradford Pear’ are unable to self-pollinate. However, the cultivars cross-pollinate and produce reproductive offspring that can form thickets with large thorns.
The Pied Currawong, Streper agraculina, a local bird species which has increased in numbers in the urban areas, and exotic Starling, Sturnus vulgaris are the likely bird candidates that spread the seeds. Once the plants establish, the thickets suppress native vegetation and negatively impact on wildlife. The thorny thickets are difficult to remove.
In the past two years, FoMM recorded and removed young Callery Pear in the grassy woodland east of The Fair where three different cultivars were planted as street trees in 2012 during the development of the residential estate.
FoMM provided background information in the April Newsletter, an excerpt of which is copied below. Take your time and visit the enclosed video links to learn about the pest and see how the nightmare unfolded in the US.
Is it too late to stop the invasion?
Distribution of planted Callery Pear, ACT Tree Asset
The ACT Tree Asset map of November 2025 shows the distribution of 12.546 Callery Pear trees which were planted by the government.
There is a noticeable concentration of the species in the north, particularly in the suburbs of Gungahlin.
ALA records of Callery Pear from CNM.
A map of the Atlas of Living Australia (ALA) of November 2025 shows 72 Callery Pear records which were transferred from Canberra NatureMapr (CNM) sightings.
The ALA records do not provide the real picture of the distribution. Neither planted Callery Pears, nor the trees that were not recognized or recorded on CNM are included in the ALA records.
Nevertheless, the ALA distribution shows clearly two clusters, one in the Mugga Mugga nature reserve east of Woden and one in the Mt Majura nature reserve north of Watson.
These are the two locations where local ParkCare volunteers recognized the invading Callery Pear in the past two years and began recording.
The government not only propagates and plants Callery Pear but promotes its use in domestic situations: the ACT Government Yarralumla Nursery recommends a number of invasive species for planting, among them Pyrus calleryana ‘Bradford’, which is the worst of all Pyrus calleryana cultivar invaders as the US experience shows; see the full list here.
Callery Pear seedlings popping up in public space and domestic gardens (CNM)
Callery Pear – an Unfolding Horror Story (FoMM Newsletter April 2025)
Records of ‘wildlings’ close to Mulligans Flat nature reserve with the comment: “No fewer than 75 seedlings, between 30 cm and 1.5 m tall in some cases, growing in a garden bed under the canopies of two very large Blakely’s Red Gum. Seeds undoubtedly deposited by currawongs” (CNM)
Callery Pear, Pyrus calleryana is a beautiful ornamental tree which is recommended for landscape planting by the ACT government, despite being well documented as invasive in other areas of the world. Four cultivars are listed in the ACT’s Municipal Infrastructure Standards for Urban Landscape Projects and at least three are planted in Ian Nicol Street, immediately opposite wildflowers in the endangered box gum grassy woodland along Clancy’s track.
Since 2023 Canberra NatureMapr has been recording young Callery Pears in our nature reserves.
For an insight into why we need to change city landscaping, and the need for urgent amendment of the Urban Forest Act 2023, so that invasive trees can be legally removed from public land, look at this short video “Is this the worst Invasive Plant? – Bradford Pear”. For more about the history and science of the invasion spend an hour looking at this video from Ohio, the first US state to ban the sale of Callery Pears. The ACT needs to do likewise to avoid our green spaces looking like those shown in the videos.
Some Callery Pear cultivars are known for being susceptible to limb loss due to their rapid growth and way of branching (ALA).
