Pear

Culture - pear (Pyrus communis ), illustration

Pears (Pyrus ) constitute a genus, which belongs to the pome fruit crops ( Pyrinae ) in the rose family ( Rosaceae ).

• 8.1 Literature
• 8.2 Notes and references

Etymology

The German word "pear" ( bira OHG, MHG bir, also bire ) is a very old loan word from Latin. Lat. pirum (plural: pira ) and probably related Greek term ἃπιον ( Apion ) are ultimately probably borrowed from a pre-Indo- Mediterranean language. The scientific case pyrus goes back to an ancient folk etymology, which brought the word with gr πύρ ( pyr ) "fire" in conjunction.

Description

Pears are mostly deciduous, rarely almost evergreen, medium-sized trees or rarely shrubs. Some species have thorns. The scales of the winter buds are arranged like roof tiles. The change-constant leaves are divided into petiole and leaf blade. The simple, undivided leaf blade is serrated, entire or rarely lobed and stalked. In the buds they are rolled evenly to both sides ( involute ). In autumn the leaves turn mostly red to scarlet. Stipules are present.

The flowers appear before the leaves or with them in doldentraubigen to racemose inflorescences. The stalked flowers are hermaphrodite, radial symmetry and fünfzählig with double perianth. The flowers cup ( hypanthium ) are cup-shaped. The five sepals are bent back in the rule or spread, triangular, short and stable or fell. The five white or rarely reddish petals are rounded to broadly oblong and nailed. There are rare from 10, mostly 15 to 30 stamens present. The anthers are mostly dark red to purple. The two to five pens are free. The usually five, rarely two, three or four under constant carpels are internally connected to each other and almost completely fused at the back with the flower cups at the bottom. The carpel are two paired ovules available.

The fruit is usually pear-shaped, rarely roundish. They have a length of 2.5 to 6 centimeters. In cultural forms they can also be much larger in Asian small. The fruit trays have parchment- up cartilaginous walls. In the flesh numerous gritty groups of stone cells are present, they may also be missing. The seeds are black or almost black.

Section through a bud

Inflorescence

Pear blossom

Dissemination

The area of ​​the genus includes North Africa, Europe ( excluding Northern Europe ) and West Asia via Persia and the Himalayas to eastern Asia and Japan. In Asia, about 14 species occur, only eight of them in China.

Ecology

Pears require cool temperatures to form a fruit set, where Norway has been usually located to the north of pears. Since the bulb flowers earlier than the apple, the fruit set compared to him is more commonly affected by late frosts during flowering.

System

The genus name Pyrus was published in 1753 by Carolus Linnaeus in Species Plantarum. Type species is Pyrus communis L. genus Pyrus is divided into two sections: pashia and Pyrus.

There are about 25 to 28 Pyrus species:

• Pyrus armeniacifolia T.T.Yu
• Austrian pear (Pyrus austriaca A. Core. )
• Pyrus autumnalis Koidz.
• Pyrus betulifolia Bunge: The home is located at altitudes 0-1800 meters in Laos and the Chinese provinces: Anhui, Gansu, Guizhou, Hebei, Henan, Hubei, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Liaoning, Nei Mongol, Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanxi, Xizang and Zhejiang.
• Pyrus boissieriana Buhse
• Pyrus bretschneideri Rehder: The home is located at altitudes between 100 and 2000 meters in the Chinese provinces of Gansu, Hebei, Henan, Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanxi and Xinjiang.
• Pyrus calleryana Decne.
• Pyrus × canescens Spach = P. nivalis × × P. salicifolia Pall.
• Culture - pear (Pyrus communis L., syn. .. . Pyrus Asiae - mediae Popov, Pyrus balansae Decne, Pyrus bourgaeana Decne, Pyrus caucasica Fed, Pyrus communis subsp bourgaeana ( Decne. ) Nyman, Pyrus communis var mariana Willk. , Pyrus domestica Medik., Pyrus elata Rubtzov, Pyrus medvedevii Rubtzov )
• Pyrus cordata Desv.
• Pyrus cossonii Rehder
• Pyrus dimorphophylla Makino
• Pyrus elaeagrifolia Pall.
• Pyrus fauriei C.K.Schneid.
• Pyrus gharbiana trot.
• Pyrus glabra Boiss.
• Pyrus hondoensis Nakai & Kikuchi
• Pyrus hopeiensis TTYu: The home is located at altitudes between 100 and 800 meters in the Chinese provinces of Hebei and Shandong.
• Pyrus koehnei C.K.Schneid.
• Pyrus korshinskyi Litv.
• Pyrus × lecontei Rehder = P. communis × P. elaeagrifolia, syn: sage leaf pear ( P. salviifolia DC. )
• Pyrus pashia Buch.-Ham. ex D.Don ( Syn: .. . Pyrus Kumaoni Decne ex Hook f, Pyrus nepalensis Hort ex Decne, Pyrus pashia var Kumaoni ( Decne. ex Hook f ) Stapf, Pyrus variolosa Wall ex Brandis. . )
• Pyrus mamorensis trot.
• Pyrus maximowicziana Nakai
• Pyrus × michauxii Bosc ex Poir. = P. nivalis × × P. spinosa
• . Pyrus nivalis Jacq ×, snow pear, leather - pear ( = P. communis × P. elaeagrifolia, syn: sage leaf pear (Pyrus salviifolia DC). )
• Pyrus pashia Buchanan - Hamilton ex D.Don: The home is located at an altitude 750-2600 meters in the Himalayas and adjacent areas from Kashmir to Bhutan, Assam, Burma and western China.
• Pyrus phaeocarpa Rehder: The home is located at an altitude 100-1200 meters in the Chinese provinces of Gansu, Hebei, Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanxi and Xinjiang.
• Pyrus pseudopashia TTYu: The home is located at an altitude 500-3000 meters in the Chinese provinces of Guizhou and Yunnan.
• Wild pear or pear wood (Pyrus pyraster (L.) Burgsd. , Syn. Pyrus communis L. subsp. Pyraster (L.) Ehrh. , Pyrus communis var pyraster L.)
• Nashi (Pyrus pyrifolia ( Burm. f ) Nakai, syn. Pyrus sinensis Nakai, Pyrus sinensis LHBailey, Pyrus sinensis var culta Makino )
• Pyrus regelii Rehder
• Pyrus sachokiana Kuth.
• Pyrus salicifolia Pall. , Willow- pear
• Pyrus serrulata Rehder: The home is located at an altitude 100-1600 meters in the Chinese provinces of Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Sichuan and Zhejiang.
• Pyrus sinkiangensis TT Yu: The home is located at an altitude 200-1100 meters in the Chinese province of Xinjiang. This species is also cultivated in Gansu, Qinghai and Shaanxi.
• Pyrus spinosa Forssk. ( Syn: . Pyrus amygdaliformis Villalba, Pyrus persica pers.)
• Pyrus syriaca Boiss.
• Pyrus sohayakiensis Koidz.
• Pyrus taiwanensis Iketani & Ohashi: The home is Taiwan.
• Pyrus turcomanica Maleev
• Pyrus ussuriensis Maxim. ( Syn. Pyrus sinensis Decne non Lind.. )
• Pyrus xerophila TTYu: The home is located at altitudes between 500 and 2000 meters in the Chinese provinces of Gansu, Henan, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Xinjiang and Xizang.

There are some intergeneric hybrids, eg × Sorbopyrus.

Use

Pear trees, both for fruit cultivation ( culture - pear) as well as for decoration ( flowers, fruits ) planted. For the European fruit production varieties of Pyrus communis are important in Asia, however, are the varieties of Pyrus pyrifolia.

History

Pears are a cultural companion, Homer already reported by them. Later research found that the pear was also worshiped by the Babylonians as a sacred tree. Very quickly, people have bred many types of pears. Theophrastus mentions three, five or six Cato and Pliny mentions at least 38 varieties of pears. In the 17th century, was known in France to the 300 varieties in the 19th century it was already reached in 1000. The current number of varieties in Old and New World is estimated at 5000.

Fruit

The fruits of pears can be juiced eaten raw as a fruit, dried to obtain dried fruit, used as an ingredient in cooking or. Also widespread is the use of the fruit for the production of pear syrup or fruit brandies. To extend the storage time are pears that are put on the market, usually picked before they are nearing full maturity. They are then stored in a cool until the sale and mature after this. The pear is one of the climacteric fruits.

Although there are many pear varieties, only varieties are commercially available, which have been found in storage more robust than wild pears. Wild pears are very susceptible to rot.

Pears on the tree

Pear half, variety ' Williams Christ '

Pears as dried fruit ( Kletzen )

A Williams Christ pear in a fruit brandy bottle ( northern Croatia )

Wood

Pear wood is a popular wood used in furniture construction due to its color, density and good polishing ability. It is hard, heavy, tough and slightly elastic at an average density of 0.74 g / cm ³ (see LWF Report No. 23). Pear wood dries slowly and without major cracking, it is very stable in the dry state. This stability is related to the so-called stone cells, which have both the bulb as the fruit, as well as the timber. It is to felt-like interwoven cells. The calorific value of pear wood is slightly lower than that of beech wood, although both woods are very similar in density. The wood is very fine, dense and has barely visible annual rings, pores are visible to the naked eye can be seen only in cross section. The Birnbaum tends age for voluntary nucleation, which manifests itself in violet- brown to black - brown color gradients in the center of the trunk. When steaming, the natural color of the wood varies from a very light silver gray to bright yellow to a warm, reddish hue. At the age it gets a very nice reddish brown, amber -like color. This color is actually the only differentiator for the naked eye to so-called " Swiss pear ", which is a trade name for various trees of the genus of haws (Sorbus ).

Birnbaum is despite its hardness, very good for carving fine details, because of the stone cells, it can be processed without tear out in different directions. There's even the " perry pears Schnitzer ," a representative of an old craftsmanship. He carved bakeware or earlier printing blocks or letters made ​​of wood. Old wooden model is carved from pear wood, as they are for Springerle use.

Black stained pear wood was used in the cabinetmaking as a substitute for the rarer and more expensive ebony because it can stain very well. In this colored form it was also often referred to as " German ebony ".