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Pyrus communis
Also called Common pear, Wild pear, Pear, Domestic Pear
The common pear is a temperate fruit tree, the species behind most orchard pears grown in Europe, North America and Australia. It needs a period of winter chill to flower and fruit well, and fruit is best picked firm and ripened off the tree.
Pyrus communis, the common pear, is a species of pear native to central and eastern Europe, and western Asia.
It is one of the most important fruits of temperate regions, being the species from which most orchard pear cultivars grown in Europe, North America, and Australia have been developed. Two other species of pear, the Japanese pear (Pyrus pyrifolia) and the hybrid Chinese white or duck pear (Pyrus × bretschneideri, Chinese: 白梨; pinyin: báilí) are more widely grown in East Asia.
Common pear trees are not quite as hardy as apples, but nearly so. However, they do require some winter chilling to produce fruit. A number of Lepidoptera caterpillars feed on pear tree leaves.
For best and most consistent quality, common pears are picked when the fruit matures, but before they are ripe. Fruit allowed to ripen on the tree often drops before it can be picked, and in any event will be hard to pick without bruising. Pears store (and ship) well in their mature but unripe state if kept cold, and can be ripened later, a process called bletting. Some varieties, such as Beurre d'Anjou, ripen only with exposure to cold. Fermented pear juice is called perry.
Pears are eaten fresh or cooked as a dessert, and may be served in pies. They are sometimes used to accompany meat. Pears are fermented to make perry; this can be distilled to make a pear brandy.
Birch Leaf Pear · Pyrus boissieriana · Chinese White Pear · Callery Pear · Snow Pear · Pyrus phaeocarpa · Chinese pear · Pyrus regelii · Willow Leaved Pear · Pear
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Pyrus communis by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
