Pyrus communis

The cultivated European pear (P. communis subsp. communis) is thought to be descended from two subspecies of wild pears, categorized as P. communis subsp. pyraster (syn. P. pyraster) and P. communis subsp. caucasica (syn. P. caucasica), which are interfertile with domesticated pears. Archeological evidence shows these pears "were collected from the wild long before their introduction into cultivation", according to Zohary and Hopf.[3] Although they point to finds of pears in sites in Neolithic and Bronze Age European sites, "reliable information on pear cultivation first appears in the works of the Greek and the Roman writers."[4] Theophrastus, Cato the Elder, and Pliny the Elder all present information about the cultivation and grafting of pears.

Pear tree in flower

Tiny unripe pears

European pear trees are not quite as hardy as apples, but nearly so. However, they do require some winter chilling to produce fruit. A number of Lepidoptera caterpillars feed on pear tree leaves.

For best and most consistent quality, European pears are picked when the fruit matures, but before they are ripe. Fruit allowed to ripen on the tree often drops before it can be picked, and in any event will be hard to pick without bruising. Pears store (and ship) well in their mature but unripe state if kept cold, and can be ripened later, a process called bletting. Some varieties, such as Beurre d'Anjou, ripen only with exposure to cold.

Fermented pear juice is called perry. In Britain, the place name "Perry" can indicate the historical presence of pear trees.

Relatively few cultivars of European or Asian pears are widely grown worldwide. Only about 20–25 European and 10–20 Asian cultivars represent virtually all the pears of commerce. Almost all European cultivars were chance seedlings or selections originating in western Europe, mostly France. The Asian cultivars all originated in Japan and China. 'Bartlett' (Williams) is the most common pear cultivar in the world, representing about 75% of US pear production.

Major cultivars

Further information: List of pear cultivars

In the United States, 95% of reported pear production in 2004 came from four cultivars:[5]

• 50% Williams' Bon Chrétien (England, circa 1770; a summer pear commonly called Bartlett in the US and Canada, and Williams elsewhere)
• 34% Beurré d'Anjou (France, a winter pear commonly called just d'Anjou)
• 10% Beurré Bosc (France, also known as Kaiser Alexander, a winter pear commonly called just Bosc or Kaiser)
• 1% Doyenné du Comice (France, 1849; commonly called Comice pears)

Eight varieties of pear, from left to right, Williams' Bon Chrétien (sold in the US as Bartlett), two Red Bartlett varieties, d'Anjou, Bosc, Comice, Concorde, and Seckel

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  Blake's Pride pear (Image courtesy of USDA, ARS)
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  Packham's Triumph pear, or just Packham's pear
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  Beurré Clairgeau, or Clairgeau pear, an early 19th-century French variety
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  Louise Bonne of Jersey pear, a late 18th-century French pear
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  A pear pie
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  Williams' Bon Chrétien (commonly Williams or Bartlett) pear, 1822 printing digitized by Google.
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  Summer Beauty pear - watercolor 1893
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  Sudduth pear - watercolor 1895
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  Williams pear red and green
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  'Butirra Precoce Morettini' variety
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  'Doyenné du Comice' variety
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  Watercolor of Forelle (European pear) painted in 1900 by Deborah Griscom Passmore (USDA)
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  Pyrus Communis in the UBC Botanical Garden
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  'Vicar of Winkfield' variety

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Pyrus communis.

• Pyrus communis images at bioimages.vanderbilt.edu