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In this storyOverviewDescriptionSpecies and selected hybridsCultivarsProductionStorageCooking

Overview

Pears are a genus of trees, Pyrus , in the family Rosaceae, that bear an edible apple-like fruit of the same name. Several species of pears are cultivated for their fruit and juices, while others are grown as ornamental flowering trees.

Pear trees are mostly medium to small-sized, though some grow as shrubs. They grow in temperate regions, being native to Asia and distributed across Europe and the mountains of North Africa. The wood of pear trees is a preferred material in the manufacture of high-quality woodwind instruments and furniture.

About 3,000 varieties of pears are grown worldwide, varying in both shape and taste. In 2024, world production of the fruit was about 28 million tonnes, led by China with 76% of the total. The fruit is consumed fresh, canned, as juice, dried, or fermented as perry.

Description

Pears are mostly small or medium-sized trees; a few of the species are shrubby, and some are thorny. The leaves are alternately arranged, simple, 2 – 12 cm 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 −25 to -40 C in winter, but many grown for agriculture are vulnerable to cold damage. Evergreen species only tolerate temperatures down to about -12 C.

The flowers are white, rarely tinted yellow or pink, 2 – 4 cm diameter, and have five petals, five sepals, and numerous stamens. Like that of the related apple, the pear fruit is a pome, in most wild species 1 – 4 cm diameter, but in some cultivated forms up to 18 cm long and 9 cm 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 pseudofruit composed of the greatly swollen receptacle or upper end of the flower stalk (the so-called calyx tube). 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 cultivated pears look very much like some apples, e.g. the nashi pear.

Species and selected hybrids

Subgenus Pyrus

Pyrus acutiserrata

Pyrus armeniacifolia—apricot-leaved pear

Pyrus asiae-mediae

Pyrus austriaca

Pyrus × babadagensis

Pyrus × bardoensis

Pyrus boissieriana

Pyrus bourgaeana—Iberian pear

Pyrus browiczii

Pyrus cajon

Pyrus castribonensis

Pyrus chosrovica

Pyrus ciancioi—Ciancio's pear

Pyrus communis—European pear

Pyrus communis subsp. communis—European pear (cultivars include Beurre d'Anjou, Bartlett and Beurre Bosc)

Pyrus communis subsp. caucasica (syn. Pyrus caucasica)

Pyrus communis subsp. pyraster (syn. Pyrus pyraster)

Pyrus complexa

Pyrus cordata—Plymouth pear

Pyrus cordifolia

Pyrus costata

Pyrus daralagezi

Pyrus demetrii

Pyrus elaeagrifolia—oleaster-leaved pear

Pyrus elata

Pyrus eldarica

Pyrus fedorovii

Pyrus ferganensis

Pyrus georgica

Pyrus gergerana—Gergeranian pear

Pyrus glabra

Pyrus grossheimii

Pyrus hajastani

Pyrus hakkiarica

Pyrus hyrcana

Pyrus jacquemontiana

Pyrus × jordanovii

Pyrus ketzkhovelii

Pyrus mazanderanica

Pyrus medvedevii

Pyrus megrica

Pyrus × michauxii

Pyrus neoserrulata

Pyrus nivalis—snow pear

Pyrus nutans

Pyrus oxyprion

Pyrus pedrottiana

Pyrus raddeana

Pyrus regelii

Pyrus sachokiana

Pyrus salicifolia—willow-leaved pear

Pyrus sicanorum

Pyrus × sinkiangensis—thought to be an interspecific hybrid between P. ×bretschneideri and Pyrus communis

Pyrus sogdiana

Pyrus sosnovskyi

Pyrus spinosa—Almond-leaved pear

Pyrus syriaca—Syrian pear

Pyrus tadshikistanica

Pyrus takhtadzhianii

Pyrus tamamschiannae

Pyrus terpoi

Pyrus theodorovii

Pyrus turcomanica

Pyrus tuskaulensis

Pyrus vallis-demonis

Pyrus × vavilovii

Pyrus voronovii

Pyrus vsevolodovii

Pyrus yaltirikii

Pyrus zangezura

Subgenus Pashia

Pyrus betulifolia—birchleaf pear

Pyrus × bretschneideri—Chinese white pear; also classified as a subspecies of Pyrus pyrifolia

Pyrus calleryana—Callery pear

Pyrus hopeiensis

Pyrus korshinskyi

Pyrus pashia—Afghan pear

Pyrus × phaeocarpa

Pyrus pseudopashia

Pyrus pyrifolia—Nashi pear, Sha Li; tree species native to China, Japan, and Korea, also known as the Asian pear

Pyrus trilocularis

Pyrus ussuriensis—Siberian pear (also known as the Ussurian pear, Harbin pear, or Manchurian pear)

Pyrus xerophila

Not classified

Pyrus alpinotaiwaniana

Together with the genus Crataegus, Pyrus forms the graft-chimaera + Pyrocrataegus.

Cultivars

The following cultivars have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit:

'Beth'

'Beurré Hardy'

'Beurré Superfin'

'Concorde'

'Conference'

'Doyenné du Comice'

'Joséphine de Malines'

The purely decorative cultivar P. salicifolia 'Pendula', with pendulous branches and silvery leaves, has also won the award.

Production

In 2024, world production of pears was 27.6 million tonnes, led by China with 76% of the total (table). About 48% of the Southern Hemisphere's pears are produced in the Patagonian valley of Río Negro in Argentina.

Storage

Pears may be stored at room temperature until ripe. Pears are ripe when the flesh around the stem gives to gentle pressure. Ripe pears are optimally stored refrigerated, uncovered in a single layer, where they have a shelf life of 2 to 3 days. Pears ripen at room temperature. Ripening is accelerated by the gas ethylene, a plant hormone. If pears are placed next to bananas in a fruit bowl, the ethylene emitted by the banana causes the pears to ripen. According to Pear Bureau Northwest, most varieties show little colour change as they ripen (though the skin on Bartlett pears changes from green to yellow).

Cooking

Pears are eaten fresh, canned, as juice, and dried. The juice can also be used in jellies and jams, usually in combination with other fruits, including berries. Fermented pear juice is called perry or pear cider and is made in a way that is similar to how cider is made from apples. Perry can be distilled to produce an eau de vie de poire, a colourless, unsweetened fruit brandy.

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).

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