Pyrus indica Wallich, Pl. Asiat. Rar. 2: 56. 1831; Cydonia indica (Wallich) Spach; Docynia docynioides (C. K. Schneider) Rehder; D. griffithiana Decaisne; D. hookeriana Decaisne; D. rufifolia (H. Léveillé) Rehder; Malus docynioides C. K. Schneider; P. rufifolia H. Léveillé.

Trees semievergreen or deciduous, to 2–3 m tall. Branchlets purplish brown or blackish brown when old, terete, stout, initially densely pubescent, glabrous when old; buds reddish brown, pubescent, apex acute. Stipule caducous, lanceolate, small, apex acuminate; petiole 0.5–2 cm, usually pubescent; leaf blade elliptic or oblong-lanceolate, 3.5–8 × 1.5–2.3 cm, firmly papery, abaxially sparsely pubescent or subglabrous, adaxially glabrous, lustrous, base broadly cuneate or subrounded, margin shallowly crenate, rarely serrate or entire only at apex, apex acute or acuminate. Pedicel short or nearly absent, pubescent. Flowers 3–5-fascicled, ca. 2.5 cm in diam.; bracts lanceolate. Hypanthium campanulate, abaxially densely pubescent. Sepals lanceolate or triangular-lanceolate, 5–8 mm, both surfaces pubescent, slightly shorter than hypanthium, margin entire, apex acute or acuminate. Petals white, oblong or oblong-obovate, 1.2–1.6 cm × 5–9 mm. Stamens ca. 30. Styles ca. as long as stamens, connate and pubescent at base. Pome yellow, subglobose or ellipsoid, 2–3 cm in diam., slightly pubescent when young; sepals persistent, erect. Fl. Mar–Apr, fr. Aug–Sep.

Slopes, stream sides, thickets; 2000--3000 m. SW Sichuan, NE Yunnan [Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Sikkim, Thailand, Vietnam].