A Botanical Illustration

I suppose it may seem a little backwards to get to this part now, but honestly it seemed appropriate to reopen a new growing season (albeit slow and cold) to speak about the characteristics that define Pyrus communis. The winter and early spring season present the opportunity for reflection and in-house experimentation, but it's time we move outside...

The European pear is a member of the Rose Family (Rosaceae) and therefore a close cousin to the apple, quince, hawthorn, and even the mountain ash. There are 20 species in Pyrus, many of which grow wild in the south central Europe, Russia, and western Asia.

As a temperature fruit, they can be grown in plant hardiness zones 4 - 9, where the trees are provided with at least 800 - 1000 hours of temperatures below 45F but not frequently further than -20F.

Pears are one of the first fruit trees to bloom in the spring, one to three weeks earlier than apples - putting the fruit crop at the risk of frost damage, depending on the conditions of the springtime.

They do best in well drained loamy soils between the pH range of 6 - 7 (slightly acidic to neutral), but can tolerate heavier clay soils than apples can.  

In Vermont, we're typically Zones 4 and 5. For a better look at this map, go to ARS USDA website.

European pears will grow up to 50+ feet tall. The long, vertically reaching branches could be described as "Octopus-like", as Tom Parlow of Walden Heights Nursery said to me. Furrowed greyish bark of an older tree; they are smooth when young. Shiny, simple, alternate dark green leaves; often finely serrated.

Picture courtesy www.discoverlife.org.

Picture courtesy www.dendro.cnre.vt.edu.

Courtesy 1ms.net.

The flowers are perfect... perfect, as in containing both male and female parts on the same flower!

There are between 15 - 20 stamens and 2 - 5 carpels, with their ovaries in an inferior position.The flowers look very similarly to apple blossoms, though they often smell bad or have no perceived fragrance. Typically white or tinged pink.

Courtesy from a botanical print on www.etsy.com.

The fruit is known as a pome -  which is an accessory fruit that is not classically an enlarged ovary that surrounds the seeds. Instead, the edible portion we love is the enlarged stem that once connected the flower to the branch. The actual ovary wall is the paper skin encasing the seeds.

Resources:
1) Hedrick, U. P., and G. H. Howe. The pears of New York. Albany: J.B. Lyon Co. printers, 1921. Print.
2) Weaver, Sue. "Heirloom Pears." Hobby Farms. I-5 Publishing, n.d. Web. 29 Apr. 2014.