PYRUS COMMUNIS.— THE PEAR TREE. 
Class XII. ICOSANDRIA. Order II. PENTAGYNIA. 
Natural Order, POMACE^.— THE APPLE TRIBE. 
Calyx with an urceolate tube, and a 5-lobed limb. Petals roundish. Styles usually 5, rarely 2 or 3. Pome 
closed, 5-celled; putamen cartilaginous. Seeds 2 in each cell; testa cartilaginous. — Trees or shrubs, with 
simple or pinnate leaves, and terminal, many-flowered cymes. Bracteas subulate, deciduous. 
The pear tree is called poirier in French, Birnbaum in Germany, and pero in Italian. In its wild state, 
the pear is a thorny tree, with upright branches, tending to a pyramidal form, in which it differs materially 
from the apple tree. The twigs or spray hang down ; the flowers in terminal villous corymbs, produced 
from wood of the preceding year, or from buds gradually formed on that of several years’ growth, 
on the extremities of very short protruding shoots, technically spurs. It is found in a wild state in Britain, 
and abundantly in France and Germany, as well as other parts of Europe, not excepting Russia, as far as 
latitude 51°. It grows in almost any soil. The cultivated tree differs from the apple, not only in having a 
tendency to the pyramidal form, but also in being more apt to send out tap roots, in being as a seeding 
plant much longer in coming into bearing, and when on its own root, or grafted on a wild pear stock, of 
being much longer lived. In a dry soil it will exist for centuries, and still keep its health, productiveness, 
and vigour. “ The period at which the Teinton squash pear first sprang from seed,” Mr. Knight observes, 
“ probably now cannot at all be ascertained ; but I suspect from its present diseased and worn-out state, 
that it existed at least as early as the beginning of the sixteenth century ; for another kind, the barland, 
which was much cultivated in the early part of the seventeenth century, still retains a large share of health 
and vigour; and the identical trees which supplied the inhabitants of Herefordshire in the 17th century with 
liquor, are likely to do the same good to those of the 19th.” The remarks on the history of the apple will 
apply, almost without exception, to the pear. The Romans in Pliny’s time possessed 32 sorts, and the fruit 
is still more valued than the apple, both in Italy and France. 
History. The Pear is mentioned by the earliest writers, as common in Syria, Egypt, and Greece; from 
which latter country it appears to have been brought into Italy. Theophrastus speaks of the productive- 
ness of old pear trees; and Virgil mentions some Pears which he received from Cato. Pliny, in his 15th 
book, describes the varieties in cultivation in his time as being exceedingly numerous; and mentions a num- 
ber which were named after the countries from which they were received. Of all pears, he says, the Crus- 
tumine is the most delicate and agreeable. The Falernian pear was esteemed for its juice ; and the Tiberian 
pear, because it was preferred by the Emperor Tiberius. There were “ proud pears,” which were so called 
because they ripened early, and would not keep, and “ winter pears” pears for baking, &c. as at the present 
day. “ All Pears whatsoever” Pliny observes, “ are but a heavy meat, unless they are well boiled or baked.” 
When the cultivated pear was introduced into Britain is uncertain ; but there can be little doubt that it was 
brought here I >y the Romans ; and it is by no means improbable that all our wild pears have originated in 
the seeds of these cultivated sorts, accidentally disseminated by birds. The pear is mentioned by Chaucer ; 
and, in the time of Henry VIII. it appears that the warden (so called from its property of keeping) was in 
cultivation; for, among certain charges in an old account book in the Exchequer, 3s. 4d., is mentioned for 
“medlars and warders,” and 12d. for “pears,” probably some commoner sort. In Gerard’s time, the Ka- 
therine pear (a small red early fruit, still occasionally sent to market, No. 172, Hort. Soc. Cat. and called 
by Gerard, Pyrus superba, sive Katherina) was considered the best : but he enumerates seven sorts, all of 
which, he says, and many more sorts of u tame peares,” and those “most rare and good, are growing in the 
ground of Master Richard Pointer, a most cunning and curious graffer and planter of all manner of rare 
fruits, dwelling in a small village neere London, called Twickenham; and also in the ground of an excellent 
graffer and painfull planter, Mr. Henry Banbury, of Touthill Street, neere Westminster; and likewise in the 
