10 



MASS. EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 421 



are those in the middle portion of a one-year shoot growth, although all leaves 

 are more or less taken into consideration when determining the leaf shape of 

 any variety, because leaf shape may be variable from one part of a tree to another. 

 Frequently, leaves are described as roundish-oval, long-oval, oval to elliptic, 

 etc., to allow for normal shape variation. 



Figure 5. Leaf Shape 



SECKEL — Roundish oval 

 WILLARD — Ovate 

 KIEFFER — Oval 

 CA\'WOOD — Elliptic 



The leaves of most pear varieties show some degree of folding, but the amount 

 and type of folding differs with the variety (Figure 6). With some pears, the 

 majority of leaves are usually flat with some very slight folding as in Garber or 

 Clairgeau. Broad U-folding as in Ovid is rather common; medium U-folding 

 as in Bartlett is somewhat less common; and narrow U-folding as in Bantam or 

 sometimes in Bartlett is rather infrequently found in pears. With some varieties, 

 the upward folding of the leaf is often V-shaped although the difference between 

 U-folding and V-folding is sometimes not uniformly distinct. V-folding may be 

 broad as in Wilder to medium or sometimes narrow as in Dana Hovey. Other 

 variations in leaf folding are occasionally found. Thus, many leaves of Gorham 

 are typically saucer-folded and those of Seckel or Koonce are often somewhat 

 reverse saucer-folded with the leaf edges turned downward instead of upward. 

 As with leaf shape, the degree of leaf folding is usually not uniform throughout a 

 nursery tree. For example, the leaves of Patten are usually folded broadh'i 

 but the young shoot leaves of that variety may be narrow U-folded. With 

 Dana Hovey, the lower leaves may be broad V-folded while those nearer the 

 shoot tip are narrow V-folded. It has been the experience of the writers that 

 leaf-folding is a very useful character in variety identification. However, since 

 such a character is somewhat variable and may be influenced by environmental 

 conditions, considerable experience is necessary before one can be certain how 

 much dependence to place on it at any particular time or place. 



