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Pears are fruits produced and consumed around the world, growing on a tree and are harvested in late summer into mid-autumn. The pear tree and shrub are a species of genus Pyrus , in the family Rosaceae, bearing the Pome fruit of the same name. Several species of pears are valued for their edible fruit and juices, while others are cultivated as trees.
The tree is medium-sized and native to coastal and mildly temperate regions of Europe, North Africa, and Asia. Pear wood is one of the preferred materials in the manufacture of high-quality woodwind instruments and furniture.
About 3,000 known varieties of pears are grown worldwide, which vary in both shape and taste. The fruit is consumed fresh, canning, as juice, Dried fruit, or as perry.
The leaf are alternately arranged, simple, long, glossy green on some species, densely silvery-hairy in some others; leaf shape varies from broad oval to narrow lanceolate. Most pears are deciduous, but one or two species in Southeast Asia are evergreen. Some pears are cold-hardy, withstanding temperatures as low as in winter, but many grown for agriculture are vulnerable to cold damage. Evergreen species only tolerate temperatures down to about .
The are white, rarely tinted yellow or pink, diameter, and have five , five sepals, and numerous . Pear Fruit Facts Page Information. bouquetoffruits.com Like that of the related apple, the pear fruit is a pome, in most wild species diameter, but in some cultivated forms up to long and broad. The shape varies in most species from oblate or globose, to the classic pyriform "pear shape" of the European pear with an elongated basal portion and a bulbous end.
The fruit is a Accessory fruit composed of the receptacle or upper end of the flower stalk (the so-called calyx tube) greatly dilated. Enclosed within its cellular flesh is the true fruit: 2–5 'cartilaginous' carpels, known colloquially as the "core". Pears and apples cannot always be distinguished by the form of the fruit; some pears look very much like some apples, e.g. the Pyrus pyrifolia.
The word pear, or its equivalent, occurs in all the Celtic languages, while in Slavic and other dialects, differing appellations still referring to the same thing are found—a diversity and multiplicity of nomenclature, which led Alphonse Pyramus de Candolle to infer a very ancient cultivation of the tree from the shores of the Caspian to those of the Atlantic.
The pear was also cultivated by the Romans, who ate the fruits raw or cooked, just like apples. Pliny's Natural History recommended stewing them with honey and noted three dozen varieties. The Roman cookbook De re coquinaria has a recipe for a spiced, stewed-pear patina, or soufflé. (2025). 9781903018132, Prospect Books. ISBN 9781903018132 Romans also introduced the fruit to Britain.
Pyrus nivalis, which has white down on the undersurface of the leaves, is chiefly used in Europe in the manufacture of perry (see also cider). (2025). 9783642160578, Springer Berlin Heidelberg Springer e-books. ISBN 9783642160578 Other small-fruited pears, distinguished by their early ripening and globose fruit, may be referred to as P. cordata, a species found wild in southwestern Europe.
The genus is thought to have originated in present-day Western China in the foothills of the Tian Shan, a mountain range of Central Asia, and to have spread to the north and south along mountain chains, evolving into a diverse group of over 20 widely recognized primary species. The enormous number of varieties of the cultivated European pear ( Pyrus communis subsp. communis), are likely derived from one or two wild subspecies ( P. c. subsp. pyraster and P. c. subsp. caucasica), widely distributed throughout Europe, and sometimes forming part of the natural vegetation of the forests. Court accounts of Henry III of England record pears shipped from La Rochelle-Normande and presented to the king by the sheriffs of the City of London. The French names of pears grown in English medieval gardens suggest that their reputation, at the least, was French; a favoured variety in the accounts was named for Saint Rieul of Senlis, Bishop of Senlis in northern France.
Asian species with medium to large edible fruit include P. pyrifolia, P. ussuriensis, P. × bretschneideri, and P. × sinkiangensis. Small-fruited species, such as Pyrus calleryana, may be used as for the cultivated forms.
There are four species which are primarily grown for edible fruit production: the European pear Pyrus communis subsp. communis cultivated mainly in Europe and North America, the Chinese white pear ( bai li) Pyrus × bretschneideri, the Chinese pear Pyrus ussuriensis, and the Nashi pear Pyrus pyrifolia (also known as Asian pear or apple pear), which are grown mainly in eastern Asia. There are thousands of of these three species. A species grown in western China, P. sinkiangensis, and P. pashia, grown in southern China and south Asia, are also produced to a lesser degree.
Other species are used as for European and Asian pears and as ornamental plant. Pear wood is close-grained and has been used as a specialized timber for fine furniture and making the blocks for . The Manchurian or Ussurian Pear, Pyrus ussuriensis (which produces unpalatable fruit primarily used for canning) has been crossed with Pyrus communis to breed hardier pear cultivars. The Bradford pear ( Pyrus calleryana 'Bradford') is widespread as an ornamental tree in North America, where it has become Invasive species in regions. It is also used as a blight-resistant rootstock for Pyrus communis fruit orchards. The Willow-leaved pear ( Pyrus salicifolia) is grown for its silvery leaves, flowers, and its "weeping" form.
The purely decorative cultivar P. salicifolia 'Pendula', with pendulous branches and silvery leaves, has also won the award.
| +Pear production – 2022 | |
| 19.3 | |
| 0.58 | |
| 0.57 | |
| 0.55 | |
| 0.52 | |
| 26.3 | |
| Source: FAOSTAT | |
Pears ripen at room temperature. Ripening is accelerated by the gas ethylene. (2025). 9780137327171, Pearson. ISBN 9780137327171 If pears are placed next to in a fruit bowl, the ethylene emitted by the banana causes the pears to ripen. Refrigeration will slow further ripening. According to Pear Bureau Northwest, most varieties show little color change as they ripen (though the skin on Bartlett pears changes from green to yellow as they ripen).
Pear purée is used to manufacture snack foods such as Fruit by the Foot and Fruit Roll-Ups.
The culinary or cooking pear is green but dry and hard, and only edible after several hours of cooking. Two Dutch cultivars are Gieser Wildeman (a sweet variety) and Saint Remy (slightly sour).
"A Partridge in a Pear Tree" is the first gift in the cumulative song "The Twelve Days of Christmas".
The pear tree was an object of particular veneration (as was the walnut) in the tree worship of the Nakh peoples of the North Caucasus – see Vainakh mythology and see also Ingushetia – the best-known of the Vainakh peoples today being the Chechens of Chechnya. Pear and walnut trees were held to be the sacred abodes of beneficent spirits in pre-Islamic Chechen religion and, for this reason, it was forbidden to fell them. The Chechens: A Handbook by Jaimoukha, Amjad. Published by Psychology Press, 2005. .
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