Lusk

The lusk is a small to medium sized fruit-bearing tree, related to the pear. It has lightly ruffled heart-shaped leaves that taper to a long slender point, and smooth, shallowly fluted greyish bark. In favorable conditions it can grow up to 50 feet in height, but it is more typically 20-30 feet. In mid-spring the lusk bears a profusion of ruffled white to pale yellow blossoms, very fragrant and attractive to bees.

Lusks produce their fruit late in the summer, typically in Lemnis or even Azara. This fruit is rounded to somewhat oval, with a skin that changes from green to sunny yellow as it ripens. The flesh of the fruit is similar to that of a pear, but tinged with pink and flavored with a mild but noticeable bite of tartness.

Lusk trees grow wild in some parts of eastern Ruvera and in the more temperate hilly regions of Ruleska. They fruit most prolifically in warm to hot summers, but can also tolerate chilly winters. The variety known as St. Loomis' lusk is especially cold adapted, and with careful attention can be persuaded to thrive even in a region of thin soils and regular sea winds. Lusk trees are widely cultivated well outside their natural range, and will set fruit even in arid conditions as long as some supplemental water is provided at critical times.

Uses

Lusk trees are prized wherever they are grown, both for their fruit and for their many other uses. The fruit can be eaten raw on its own, or it can be made into jams and jellies, or, most commonly in Sirdabi lands, into juices and sherbets. Apiaries are often established in or close by lusk orchards, and the honey made from lusk nectar is enjoyed for its lightness and the delicate note of tartness in its flavor.

The lusk's honey-colored wood has many of the same uses that pearwood does, and is especially favored for making woodwind instruments. It is useful for various cooking and eating utensils, as it does not hold flavors or odors long, and is durable enough to form the handles of other kinds of tools as well. It makes an attractive veneer, and is also sometimes used to make the wooden window lattices that are common around the Sirdabi caliphate.

Although relatively small and having a rather compact canopy individually, several lusk trees set together in a group can provide a dense shade that is very pleasant in hotter climes. Thanks to their attractive leaves and lovely aromatic blossoms, they also make pretty ornamentals.