The Pear

Pyrus communis

Family: Rosaceae

The common pear (Pyrus communis) is one of the earliest cultivated  of fruit trees, both in its native West Asia and in Europe. Most of the pear strains grown for their sweet and juicy fruit are varieties of Pyrus communis or of its hybrids with other species of Pyrus, usually Pyrus pyrifolia, known as the Japanese, Chinese, or sand pear, and indigenous to China. The main use of the sand pear today is as a rootstock in pear orchards; the quince is also of the same family and is used as a rootstock. The Quince originated from Persia. The first cultivated pears were selected from the wild varieties in the prehistoric ages. The Romans knew in the beginning 6 cultivated sorts and later mention 56 varieties. A late medieval Italian list mentions 232 varieties. Around 1640 in England only 60 varieties were known. In 1842 more than 700. Pear strains with fruit of really good eating quality were not developed until the 18th and 19th century in Northern Europe. Much of the  crops in France , Switzerland, and Germany were later used to make pear cider (perry) and other versions of pear wines. An incredible taste for pears dates back to ancient times. The alluring fruit even captured the praise of well known Greek poet Homer (8th century BCE), who refered to pears as a "gift of the gods". Evidently the  Romans agreed and proceded to use "grafting" techniques to develop more than fifty varieties. They were responsible for introducing the cultivated pear to other parts of Europe. Since then, hundreds of varieties have been developed. Pear trees naturally grow very tall, (20 m high) and so that is the reason for grafting onto quince rootstock, used in recent cultivation, and orchards.(otherwise the trees would grow too tall and wide for easy harvesting) The wood of the natural pear tree is very dense and hard, it was used for a short time in woodworking, but the limited supply made it too costly for continued use in larger projects. The pear tree and its fruit are similar to the closely related Apple in characteristics and in method of cultivation, but the tree is somewhat less hardy ad the fruit more perishable. The Bartlett pear variety originated in Berkshire, England in the 17th century, by a schoolmaster named John Stair. Stair sold some of his tree cuttings to a horticulturist named Williams, who further developed the variety and renamed it after himself. After pear seedlings crossed the Atlantic with the early colonists, the Williams pear found fame and fortune, in 1812  through a nurseryman , Enoch Bartlett, of Dorchester, Massachusetts. Bartlett, unaware of the pear's true name, distributed it under his own name. Ever since, the pear has been known as the Bartlett in the United  States, but is still referred to as the Williams pear, in other parts of the world. Barlett pears arrived on the West coast via the covered wagons of the 49ers heading for the California gold Rush. The Pear is a member  of the Rose family and is ruled by the planet Venus.

Ruler:  Venus