Читать книгу The Pears of New York - U. P. Hedrick - Страница 22

In this group belong the thousands of varieties under common cultivation in Europe, the United States, and in temperate regions settled by Europeans. These pears are distinct from oriental pears in place of origin, and by fairly well-marked botanical characters. Thus, the leaves of these occidental pears are crenate-serrate and entire and never setose-serrate; and the calyx is persistent on the fruits. For most part, the fruits of the two divisions are quite distinct, especially in shape, but no constant line of cleavage can be found in the pears. There are several species of these occidental pears grown for their fruits or as ornamentals. Only one, however, is of great importance. This is P. communis, to a discussion of which we now come.

1. PYRUS COMMUNIS Linnaeus.

1. Linnaeus Sp. Pl. 479. 1753. 2. Loudon Arb. et Frut. Brit. 2:880. 1838. 3. Schneider Laubholzk. 1:661. 1906.

Tree vigorous, attaining a height of 50 ft. and a diameter of 2 ft., usually with an upright, oblong, or pyramidal, compact top; bark on trunk of mature trees rough, with large persistent scales; branches usually stout, thorny, variously colored, overlaid with scarf-skin; branchlets glossy, smooth, glabrous, with more or less conspicuous lenticels. Leaf-buds prominent, plump, obtuse or pointed, mostly free; leaf-scars conspicuous. Leaves 2 to 4 in. long, 1 to 2½ in. wide, oval or oblong-ovate, thin, hard or leathery, veiny; upper surface dark green, glabrous; lower surface light green, glabrous; both surfaces downy as the leaves open; apex acuminate; margins crenate-serrate or entire, never setose-serrate; teeth often tipped with small glands; petiole 1 to 2 in. long, slender. Flower-buds larger and plumper than leaf-buds; borne on fruiting spurs in dense or loose clusters of 4 to 10; flowers showy, 1 in. across, white or sometimes with tinge of pink; calyx persistent or rarely deciduous; styles distinct to the base, sometimes downy; stamens 15 to 20; pedicels 1 in. long, slender, sometimes pubescent.

Fruits exceedingly variable under cultivation; varying from 1 in. in length and diameter to 3 in. in diameter and 5 to 6 in. in length; variously shaped, as pyriform, turbinate, round-conic, or round-oblate; green, yellow, red, or russet, or combinations of these colors; flesh white, yellowish, sometimes pink or wine-red, rarely salmon-colored; flesh firm, melting, or buttery and when ripening on the tree with few or many grit-cells. Seeds 1 to 3 in a cell, sometimes abortive or wanting, large, brown, or brownish, often tufted at the tips.

Pyrus communis, the common pear, as stated in the preceding chapter, is a native of southern Europe and southwestern Asia as far east as Kashmir. The species is a frequent escape from cultivation, multiplying from seed distributed by animals and by human agencies, and is now to be found naturalized in forests and byways of the temperate zones wherever pears are cultivated in orchards. The pear is not as hardy as the apple, and is, therefore, less generally grown. It refuses to grow in the warmest and coldest parts of the temperate zones, but is a favorite orchard, dooryard, and roadside plant in all mid-temperate regions.

The species comes from regions or localities where the climate is mild and equable, neither very hot nor very cold, and grows in moist, cool, and rather heavy soils. These predilections cling to cultivated pears wherever grown, and pure-bred varieties do not thrive under other conditions. Wild or cultivated, the pear is a deep-rooted plant, a fact that must be taken into consideration in selecting orchard sites. On shallow soils pears thrive better on the shallow-rooted quince.

Few cultivated fruits have changed more under domestication than the common pear. The trees under cultivation are larger and much more vigorous, and the fruits in the best orchard varieties—the consummation of the breeder’s art—would by no one be considered the same species if the two were found in the wild. The pears from truly wild trees in the Old World are small, nearly round, hard, gritty, sour, and astringent. Fruits from the run-wild trees from the chance transport of seeds in this country are scarcely more attractive to either eye or palate. The product of these wild trees can hardly be called edible fruits. Cultivated varieties seem to have been evolved, until the advent of Le Conte and Kieffer, only by cultivation and selection. All plants are improved more rapidly under hybridization than selection, and now that the hybridization of this pear with other species is in full swing, we may expect, for the New World at least, a new pear flora in the immediate future.

The pear supplies man not only an important article of food but also a refreshing drink. Perry, the expressed juice of pears, is a common drink in all European countries. It is used somewhat as a fruit-juice, but chiefly as a fermented beverage. Pear-juice is fermented in open casks and at the end of fermentation contains from six to twelve per cent of alcohol. In parts of England and France, special varieties are grown in considerable numbers for perry-making. The wood of the pear is hard, heavy, and close grained, for which qualities it is esteemed by turners and engravers and for fuel. A mature pear-tree is a beautiful ornamental, and few forest trees are nobler or more picturesque than an old specimen of this species with its great size and irregular, pyramidal top. A pear-tree has much merit for shade as well as an ornamental.

Pears are easy of culture and propagation, subjects to be discussed in full in the next chapter. A few words as to propagation are in place here to show the affinities of this species with other species and genera. The common pear readily inter-grafts with other pears, and its cions may be made to grow, though with difficulty, on the apple. A most noteworthy fact with this fruit is that though not easily grafted on the apple and some other pears, it unites readily with the quince and the hawthorn, both of which belongs to distinct genera. The common pear hybridizes freely with the oriental pear, but whether with other species does not appear. There are no records of the pear hybridizing with the apple, but there are trustworthy accounts of hybrids with the quince and with sorbus.

The classical name of the pear was Pirus, changed to Pyrus by Tournefort, after which it was adopted by Linnaeus, who established the genus and united with it the Malus and Cydonia of Tournefort. Fortunately there is no confusion in the botanical nomenclature of this fruit. Botanists agree, without notable divergence of opinion, on the generic and specific names of this fruit. There are several well-marked botanical varieties of Pyrus communis as well as a number of horticultural forms. The most prominent of these must be noted.

PYRUS COMMUNUS PYRASTER Linnaeus

1. Linnaeus Sp. Pl. 479. 1753.

This variety, rather common in parts of Europe, is similar to the type in foliage but has globose fruits. The leaves differ somewhat in being more rounded and in having margins more serrate. The plant is often very thorny. Some botanists believe this form to be only an escape from cultivation.

PYRUS COMMUNIS SATIVA De Candolle

1. De Candolle Prod. 2:634. 1825.

This name is applied to the cultivated pear in its many pomological forms. The trees are usually larger than those of the wild pears and are without thorns. They differ also in having larger leaves, and larger and better-flavored fruits.

PYRUS COMMUNIS CORDATA Hooker

1. Hooker, J. D. Stud. Flora 131. 1878. 2. P. cordata Desvaux Obs. Pl. Anjou 152. 1818.

This botanical variety is a spiny shrub or shrub-like tree. The leaves are smaller than those of the species, 1 in. in width, suborbicular to ovate, subcordate at the base. Flowers smaller. Fruit globose or slightly turbinate, very small,½ in. in diameter; calyx persistent. The species is a native of western France and is found in Devon and Cornwall, England. This species is said to propagate itself freely from root-suckers which suggests that it might be tried as a dwarfing stock for the common pears.

PYRUS COMMUNIS LONGIPES Henry

1. Henry Trees Gt. Brit. & Ire. 6:1561. 1912. 2. P. longipes Cosson and Durien Bull. Soc. Bot. France. 2:310. 1855.

The tree is small with a few spines. The leaves are about 2 in. long and 1 in. wide, ovate, acuminate, subcordate, glabrous, finely and crenately serrate, on long slender petioles. This variety differs little from var. cordata in its fruit except in the deciduous calyx. It is found along the mountain streams of Algeria.

PYRUS COMMUNIS MARIANA Willkomm

1. Linnaea 25:25. 1852. 2. P. bourgaeana Decaisne Jar. Fruit. i. t. 2. 1871.

This is a small tree found in the Sierra Morena in Spain. The leaves are ovate, 1 in. in length, rounded at the base, on very long, slender petioles. The pear is very small with a persistent calyx.

2. PYRUS NIVALIS Jacquin

1. Fl. Austr. 2: 4, t. 107. 1774.

Tree small, stout, without thorns; young shoots thickly covered with white wool. Leaves oval or obovate, 2 to 3 in. long,¾ to 1¼ in. wide, crenate at the base, entire, upper and lower surfaces covered with white wool when young, nearly glaucous and the upper surface shining when mature. Flowers white, 1½ in. across, clustered. Fruit roundish, yellowish-green, borne on a stalk as long or longer than the fruit, acid or becoming sweetish at full maturity.

This pear is a native of eastern Europe and Asia Minor and is often found in France as an escape from the orchard. The tree, which sometimes attains a height of fifty feet, is said to be a handsome ornamental. The species is sometimes under cultivation in France for the fruits which make very good perry, and when bletted, as is the medlar, are suitable for dessert. In Austria and adjoining parts of Germany, the species is somewhat cultivated for the same purposes as in France under the name Schnee birn or Snow pear, because not fit to eat until snow falls. This pear might have value to hybridize with common pears for the improvement of their fruit.

Botanists are not quite certain of the botanical standing of P. nivalis. By some botanists it is considered a cultivated form of P. elæagrifolia Pallas. By others it is thought to be a cross of which P. communis is one parent. P. salvifolia De Candolle is either closely allied to or identical with this species. P. kotschyana Boissier differs from P. nivalis chiefly in having smaller and harder fruits. P. elæagrifolia Pallas is distinguished by some botanists from P. kotschyana only by its spiny branches—not a constant character.

3. PYRUS AURICULARIS Knoop

1. Pomol. 2:38. 1763. 2. P. irregularis Muenchhausen Hausvater 5:246. 1770. 3. P. pollveria Linnaeus Mant. 2:244. 1771. 4. P. bollwyleriana De Candolle Fl. France Suppl. 5:530. 1815.

A tree 30 to 50 ft. high, forming a round head; branchlets and buds downy. Leaves ovate or oval, 3 to 4 in. long, 2 to 2½ in. wide; pointed, irregular, and coarsely and sometimes doubly toothed; upper surface glossy, dark green, with glands on the midrib, glabrous at maturity, downy when young; lower surface permanently covered with gray tomentum; stalk 1 to 1½ in. long, woolly. Flowers white, nearly 1 in. across, 5 to 20 in tomentose corymbs; sepals covered with pure white wool on both surfaces; styles 2 to 5, united and tomentose at the base; stamens rosy red. Fruit pyriform, 1 to 1½ in. in diameter; stalk 1 to 1½ in. long, reddish yellow; flesh yellow, sweet.

This tree is an interesting hybrid between P. communis and the whitebeam, P. aria. It was first noticed at Bollweiler, Alsace, and was first mentioned by J. Bauhin in 1619. It is propagated by grafts as few of the seeds are fertile and these do not come true to name. It bears fruit very sparingly, none being produced in some seasons.

Besides the species that have been named there are several other occidental pears named by European botanists which may be looked for in botanic gardens. Some of these might have value for work in hybridization but it is doubtful. Of these, P. heterophylla Regel and Schmalhausen (Act. Hort. Petropol 5:pt. ii, 581. 1878) is a small thorny tree from the mountain valleys of Turkestan. P. amygdaliformis Villars (Cat. Meth. Jardin Strasbourg 323. 1807) is a spiny shrub or small tree, bearing small worthless fruits; a native of arid soils in the regions of olives in southern Europe. P. salicifolia Pallas (Itin. 3:734. 1776) is a small spiny tree from the Crimea, Caucasas, and Armenia; the fruit has little or no value. P. syriaca Boissier (Diag. Nov. Pl. Orient 10:1. 1849) is a thorny, shrubby tree from Syria, Asia Minor, and Kurdistan.

A review of botanical literature shows several other names of doubtful species of Pyrus which seem more likely to be hybrids or abnormal escapes from orchards. There are, also, many names which seem to be synonyms. Material and literature at hand do not enable the author to make certain of these, even if any sufficiently worthy purpose could be served in a pomological text.