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Pyrus pyrifolia

(Asian Pear)

Overview

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Interesting Facts

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Common Names

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Click on the language to view common names.

Common Names in Chinese:

Sha Li

Common Names in English:

Asian Pear, Chinese Pear, Japanese Pear, Nashi Fruit, Oriental Pear, Sand Pear, Sha Li

Common Names in Hindi:

Nashpati, नाशपाती

Common Names in Japanese:

Nashi, Nihon Nashi, Perusu Serotina, Tyô-Sen, Yama-Nashi

Common Names in Korean:

Paenamu, Tolpaenamu

Common Names in Thai:

Sa Li

Description

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Family Rosaceae

Trees , shrubs , or herbs, deciduous or evergreen . Stems erect , scandent , arching , prostrate , or creeping , armed or unarmed . Buds usually with several exposed scales , sometimes with only 2. Leaves alternate, rarely opposite, simple or compound ; stipules paired , free or adnate to petiole , rarely absent, persistent or deciduous; petiole usually 2-glandular apically; leaf blade often serrate at margin , rarely entire. Inflorescences various, from single flowers to umbellate , corymbose , racemose or cymose-paniculate. Flowers usually actinomorphic , bisexual , rarely unisexual and then plants dioecious. Hypanthium (formed from basal parts of sepals, petals, and stamens) free from or adnate to ovary, short or elongate . Sepals usually 5, rarely fewer or more, imbricate; epicalyx segments sometimes also present. Petals as many as sepals, inserted below margin of disk, free, imbricate, sometimes absent. Disk lining hypanthium, usually entire, rarely lobed . Stamens usually numerous , rarely few, always in a complete ring at margin of or above disk; filaments usually free, very rarely connate ; anthers small, didymous , rarely elongate, 2-locular. Carpels 1 to many, free, or ± connate and then adnate to inner surface of cupular receptacle; ovary inferior, semi-inferior, or superior; ovules usually 2 in each carpel, rarely 1 or several, anatropous , superposed . Styles as many as carpels, terminal , lateral , or basal, free or sometimes connate. Fruit a follicle, pome, achene, or drupe, rarely a capsule, naked or enclosed in persistent hypanthium and sometimes also by sepals. Seeds erect or pendulous, sometimes winged , usually exalbuminous , very rarely with thin endosperm; cotyledons mostly fleshy and convex abaxially, rarely folded or convolute.

Between 95 and 125 genera and 2825-3500 species: cosmopolitan , mostly in N temperate zone; 55 genera (two endemic) and 950 species (546 endemic) in China.

Many plants of this family are of economic importance and contribute to people s livelihoods. The Rosaceae contain a great number of fruit trees of temperate regions . The fruits contain vitamins, acids, and sugars and can be used both raw and for making preserves, jam, jelly, candy, various drinks, wine, vinegar, etc. The dried fruits of the genera

Amygdalus and Armeniaca are of high commercial value. Some plants in the genus Rosa containing essential oils or with a high vitamin content are used in industry . Rosaceae wood is used for making various articles, stems and roots are used for making tannin extract, and young leaves are used as a substitute for tea. Numerous species are used for medical purposes or are cultivated as ornamentals .

The Rosaceae are very well represented in China, with great economic and scientific importance. The Co-chairs of the Editorial Committee (Wu and Raven) here note that the patterns of relationship are complex and the group is taxonomically difficult. [1]

Genus Pyrus

Trees or shrubs , deciduous, rarely semi-evergreen , sometimes armed . Leaves alternate, simple , petiolate , stipulate , involute in bud, venation camptodromous , margin serrate or entire, rarely lobed . Inflorescences corymbose-racemose. Flowers precocious or synantherous. Hypanthium cupular. Sepals 5, reflexed or spreading . Petals 5, white, rarely pink, clawed. Stamens 15-30; anthers usually dark red or purple. Ovary inferior, 2-5-loculed, with 2 ovules per locule; styles 2-5, free . Pome with juicy pulp, rich in stone cells , 2-5-celled, with cartilaginous endocarp (core ), with persistent or caducous sepals; seeds black or blackish brown, seed coat cartilaginous; cotyledons plano-convex .

About 25 species: N Africa, Asia, Europe; 14 species (eight endemic) in China.[2]

Physical Description

Species Pyrus pyrifolia

Trees to 7-15 m tall. Branchlets purplish brown or dark brown when old, terete , tawny villous or tawny tomentose when young, soon glabrescent , glabrous when old, sparsely lenticellate ; buds narrowly ovoid , apex obtuse ; scales tomentose at margin and apex. Stipules caducous , linear-lanceolate, 1-1.5 cm, membranous, margin villous and entire, apex acuminate; petiole 3-4.5 cm, initially tomentose, glabrescent; leaf blade ovate-elliptic or ovate , 7-12 × 4-6.5 cm, glabrous or brown lanate when young, base rounded or subcordate , rarely broadly cuneate, margin spinulose-serrate, apex acute. Raceme umbel-like, 6-9-flowered; peduncle sparsely pubescent when young; bracts caducous, linear , 1-1.4 cm, membranous, villous at margin, apex acuminate. Pedicel 3.5-5 cm; sparsely pubescent when young. Flowers 2.5-3.5 cm in diam. Hypanthium cupular, abaxially glabrous. Sepals triangular-ovate, ca. 5 mm, abaxially glabrous, adaxially brown tomentose, margin glandular denticulate , apex acuminate. Petals white, ovate, 1.5-1.7 cm, base shortly clawed, apex rounded. Stamens 20, ca. 1/2 as long as petals. Ovary 5- or 4-loculed, with 2 ovules per locule; styles 5, rarely 4, nearly as long as stamens, glabrous. Pome brownish, with pale dots, subglobose, 2-2.5 cm in diam., (4- or) 5-loculed; sepals caducous; fruiting pedicel 3.5-5.5 cm, subglabrous. Fl. Apr, fr. Aug. 2n = 34*, 51*. [source]

Many varieties of pear cultivated in the regions of the Chang Jiang and Zhu Jiang rivers belong to this species. [source]

Habit: Tree

Flowers: Bloom Period: Warm rainy regions; 100--1400 m. • Flower Color: near white, pink, white

Size/Age/Growth

Size: 30-40' tall.

Habitat

Typically found at an altitude of 0 to 4,028 meters (0 to 13,215 feet).[3]

Biology

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Reproduction

Duration: Perennial

Growth

Culture: Space 30-40' apart.

Soil: Minimum pH: 5.6 • Maximum pH: 7.8

Sunlight: Sun Exposure: Full Sun .

Temperature: Cold Hardiness: 5a, 5b, 6a, 6b, 7a, 7b, 8a, 8b. (map)

Taxonomy

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Synonyms

Ficus pyrifolia N. L. Burman • Pyrus serotina Rehder.

Similar Species

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Members of the genus Pyrus

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 112 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus. Here are just 100 of them:

P. baccata (Siberian Crabapple) · P. calleryana (Bradford Pear) · P. calleryana var. Cleveland (Cleveland Pear) · P. calleryana 'Aristocrat' (Aristocrat Flowering Pear) · P. calleryana 'Bradford' (Bradford Flowering Pear) · P. calleryana 'Capital' (Callery Pear) · P. calleryana 'Chanticleer' (Callery Pear) · P. calleryana 'Dancer' (Callery Pear) · P. calleryana 'Earlyred' (Callery Pear) · P. calleryana 'Edgewood' (Callery Pear) · P. calleryana 'Fauriei' (Callery Pear) · P. calleryana 'Glen' (Chanticleer® Pear) · P. calleryana 'Holmford' (New Bradford® Flowering Pear) · P. calleryana 'Jaczam' (Jack Pear) · P. calleryana 'New Bradford' (New Bradford Callery Pear) · P. calleryana 'Princess' (Callery Pear) · P. calleryana 'Rancho' (Callery Pear) · P. calleryana 'Redspire' (Callery Pear) · P. calleryana 'Stonehill' (Callery Pear) · P. calleryana 'Trinity' (Callery Pear) · P. calleryana 'Whitehouse' (Callery Pear) · P. cerasifera (Plum) · P. communis (Common Pear) · P. communis L. 'Alexander Lucas' (Common Pear) · P. communis L. 'Clapps Liebling' (Common Pear) · P. communis var. Bartlett (Bartlett Pear) · P. communis var. Highland (Highland Common Pear) · P. communis var. pyraster (Common Plar Tree) · P. communis 'Aarer Pfundbirne' (Common Pear) · P. communis 'Admiral Gervais' (Common Pear) · P. communis 'Akce' (Common Pear) · P. communis 'Alexandrina Bivort' (Common Pear) · P. communis 'Alliance Franco-Russe' (Common Pear) · P. communis 'Ames' (Common Pear) · P. communis 'Anderson' (Common Pear) · P. communis 'Angelica Di Saonara' (Common Pear) · P. communis 'Anjou' (Common Pear) · P. communis 'Arganche' (Common Pear) · P. communis 'Aromata Di Bistrita' (Common Pear) · P. communis 'Atlantic Queen' (Common Pear) · P. communis 'Aurora' (Common Pear) · P. communis 'Autumn Bergamot' (Common Pear) · P. communis 'Ayer' (Common Pear) · P. communis 'Bantam' (Common Pear) · P. communis 'Barland' (Common Pear) · P. communis 'Baronne Leroy' (Common Pear) · P. communis 'Barseck' (Common Pear) · P. communis 'Belle Julie' (Common Pear) · P. communis 'Blake's Pride' (Common Pear) · P. communis 'Blanquilla' (Common Pear) · P. communis 'Bosc' (Common Pear) · P. communis 'Broncet' (Pear 'broncet') · P. communis 'Buerre Bosc' (Common Pear) · P. communis 'Clairgeau' (Common Pear) · P. communis 'Comice' (Common Pear) · P. communis 'Conference' (Common Pear) · P. communis 'Conference', 'Doyenn du Comice', 'Williams' Bon Chrtien' (Family Pear Tree) · P. communis 'Cure' (Common Pear) · P. communis 'Deviolen' (Common Pear) · P. communis 'D'anjou' (Beurre Danjou) · P. communis 'Elliot' (Common Pear) · P. communis 'Flemish Beauty' (Common Pear) · P. communis 'Fm171740' (Pear 'fm171740') · P. communis 'Hardy' (Common Pear) · P. communis 'Harley Gum' (Pear 'harley Gum') · P. communis 'Jaco' (Pear 'jaco') · P. communis 'Josephine' (Common Pear) · P. communis 'Kieffer' (Common Pear) · P. communis 'Lowry Red' (Pear 'lowry Red') · P. communis 'Luscious' (Common Pear) · P. communis 'Maxine' (Common Pear) · P. communis 'Moonglow' (Common Pear) · P. communis 'Orcas' (Common Pear) · P. communis 'Packham's Triumph' (Common Pear) · P. communis 'Passe Crassane' (Common Pear) · P. communis 'Potomac' (Common Pear) · P. communis 'Pound' (Common Pear) · P. communis 'Seckel' (Common Pear) · P. communis 'Sensation Red Bartlett' (Common Pear) · P. communis 'Shipova' (Pear 'shipova') · P. communis 'Tettenhall Dick' (Pear 'tettenhall Dick') · P. communis 'Todd' (Pear 'todd') · P. communis 'Ubileen' (Common Pear) · P. communis 'Winter Nelis' (Common Pear) · P. kawakamii (Chinese Evergreen Pear) · P. nivalis (Snow Pear) · P. pashia (Indian Wild Pear) · P. pyraster (Wild Pear) · P. pyrifolia (Asian Pear) · P. pyrifolia var. culta (Chinese Sand Pear) · P. pyrifolia 'Chojuro' (Asian Pear) · P. pyrifolia 'Hosui' (Asian Pear) · P. pyrifolia 'Ichiban' (Asian Pear) · P. pyrifolia 'Ishiiwase' (Asian Pear) · P. pyrifolia 'Kikusui' (Asian Pear) · P. pyrifolia 'Korean Giant' (Asian Pear) · P. pyrifolia 'Nijisseiki' (Twentieth Century Asian Pear) · P. pyrifolia 'Olympic' (Asian Pear) · P. pyrifolia 'Raja' (Asian Pear) · P. pyrifolia 'Shinko' (Asian Pear)

More Info

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Further Reading

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Notes

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Contributors

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal November 17, 2007:

Identifiers

Footnotes

  1. Cuizhi Gu, Chaoluan Li, Lingdi Lu, Shunyuan Jiang, Crinan Alexander, Bruce Bartholomew, Anthony R. Brach, David E. Boufford, Hiroshi Ikeda, Hideaki Ohba, Kenneth R. Robertson & Steven A. Spongberg "Rosaceae". in Flora of China Vol. 9 Page 46. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
  2. Ku Tsue-chih, Stephen A. Spongberg "Pyrus". in Flora of China Vol. 9 Page 173. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
  3. Mean = 193.130 meters (633.629 feet), Standard Deviation = 243.970 based on 7,443 observations. Altitude information for each observation from British Oceanographic Data Centre. [back]
Last Revised: 4/19/2012