Pyrus pyrifolia

"Chinese pear" redirects here. For the Chinese White Pear, see Pyrus × bretschneideri.

Pyrus pyrifolia
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Rosids
Order:	Rosales
Family:	Rosaceae
Genus:	Pyrus
Species:	P. pyrifolia
Binomial name
Pyrus pyrifolia (Burm.) Nak.

Pyrus pyrifolia is a pear tree species native to China, Japan, and Korea. The tree's edible fruit is known by many names, including: Asian pear,^[1] Chinese pear,^[1][2] Korean pear, Japanese pear,^[1] Taiwan pear, and sand pear.^[1].

Cultivars derived from Pyrus pyrifolia is grown throughout East Asia, as well as in Australia, New Zealand, and other countries. They are commonly known as apple pear^[3] due to its appearance and taste, and along with cultivars of P. × bretschneideri and P. ussuriensis, are called nashi pear.^[4]

This tree's flowers have five white petals. In the northern hemisphere, the tree flowers around April. The tree is a popular symbol of spring in East Asia, and is a common sight in gardens and the countryside.

The fruits are generally not baked in pies or made into jams because they have a high water content and a crisp, grainy texture, very different from the buttery European varieties. It is not a cross between apples and pears, as common names like apple pear may suggest, but its shape and crisp texture are reminiscent of apples.^[5] They are commonly served raw and peeled.^[6] The fruit tends to be quite large and fragrant, and when carefully wrapped (it has a tendency to bruise because of its juiciness), it can last for several weeks or more in a cold, dry place.

Culture

Due to their relatively high price and the large size of the fruit of cultivars, the pears tend to be served to guests or given as gifts, or eaten together in a family setting.

In cooking, ground pears are used in vinegar- or soy sauce-based sauces as a sweetener, instead of sugar. They are also used when marinating meat, especially beef.

In Australia, these pears have been commercially produced for more than 25 years.^[7]

In China, the trees are popular, and are referred to in a number of sayings.^{[citation needed]}

In Japan, fruit is harvested in Chiba, Ibaraki, Tottori, Fukushima, Tochigi, Nagano, Niigata, Saitama and other prefectures, except Okinawa. Nashi (ja:梨) may be used as a late Autumn kigo, or “season word”, when writing haiku. Nashi no hana (ja:梨の花, pear flower) is also used as a kigo of spring.^[8] At least one city (Kamagaya-Shi, Chiba Prefecture) has the flowers of this tree as an official city flower.

In Korea, the fruit is grown and consumed in great quantity. In the South Korean city of Naju, there is a museum called The Naju Pear Museum and Pear Orchard for Tourists (나주 배 박물관 및 배밭 관광체험).^[9]

In Nepal and the Himalayan states of India, they are called nashpati and are cultivated as a cash crop in the Middle Hills between about 1,500 and 2,500 meters’ elevation where the climate is suitable. The fruit are carried to nearby markets by human porters or, increasingly, by truck, but not for long distances because they bruise easily.

In Taiwan, pears harvested in Japan have become luxurious presents since 1997 and their consumption has jumped.^{[citation needed]}

In Cyprus, the pears were introduced in 2010 after initially being investigated as a new fruit crop for the island in the early 1990s. They are currently grown in Kyperounta.^[10]

Cultivars

Cultivars are classified in two groups. Most of the cultivars belong to the Akanashi ('red pears') group, and have brownish-yellow rinds. The Aonashi ('green pears') have yellow-green rinds.

Important cultivars include:

• 'Chojuro' (ja:長十郎, Japan, 1893?)^[11][12]
• 'Kosui' (ja:幸水, Japan, 1959; the most important cultivar in Japan),^[13][14]
• 'Hosui' (ja:豊水, Japan, 1972)^[15][16]
• 'Imamuraaki' (ja:今村秋, Japan, native)^[17]
• 'Nijisseiki' (ja:二十世紀, Japan, 1898; name means "20th century", also spelled 'Nijusseiki')^[18][19]
• 'Niitaka' (ja:新高, Japan, 1927)^[20][21]
• 'Okusankichi' (ja:晩三吉, Japan, native)^[22][23]
• 'Shinko' (ja:新興, Japan, 1941)^[24][25]
• 'Whangkeum' (ko:황금, zh:黄金, Korea, 1984, 'Niitaka' x 'Nijisseiki')

See also

• Chinese White Pear

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b c d} Bailey, L.H.; Bailey, E.Z.; the staff of the Liberty Hyde Bailey Hortorium (1976). Hortus third: A concise dictionary of plants cultivated in the United States and Canada. New York: Macmillan,. 
2. ^ "PLANTS Profile for Pyrus pyrifolia (Chinese pear) | USDA PLANTS". Natural Resources Conservation Service. United States Department of Agriculture. http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=PYPY2. Retrieved 25 August 2011. 
3. ^ Peter Del Tredici. 2010 The Sand Pear—Pyrus pyrifolia. Arnoldia 67(4)
4. ^ NSW Primary Industries 2002. Nashi asian pear varieties. Agfact H4.1.14
5. ^ (2007-09-01.) "Corrections: For the record." New York Times archive, via nytimes.com. Retrieved on 2007-10-02.
6. ^ Solomon, Charmaine (1998), "Nashi", Encyclopedia of Asian Food, Periplus Editions, New Holland Publishers, http://www.asiafood.org/glossary_2.cfm?word=nashi&wordid=2785, retrieved 2008-07-11 ^{[dead link]}
7. ^ Australian Nashi Growers Association - Growers: history/background accessed 6 July 2011
8. ^ The Yuki Teikei Haiku Season Word List from the Yuki Teikei Haiku Society (Northern California)
9. ^ Kbs Global
10. ^ Home-grown Japanese pear officially launched - Cyprus Mail
11. ^ ニホンナシ育成品種の系統図 ：果樹研
12. ^ NSW Primary Industries 2002. Nashi asian pear varieties, chojuro. Agfact H4.1.14
13. ^ ニホンナシ育成品種の系統図 ：果樹研
14. ^ NSW Primary Industries 2002. Nashi asian pear varieties, kosui. Agfact H4.1.14
15. ^ ニホンナシ育成品種の系統図 ：果樹研
16. ^ NSW Primary Industries 2002. Nashi asian pear varieties, housui. Agfact H4.1.14
17. ^ ニホンナシ育成品種の系統図 ：果樹研
18. ^ ニホンナシ育成品種の系統図 ：果樹研
19. ^ NSW Primary Industries 2002. Nashi asian pear varieties, nijiseiki. Agfact H4.1.14
20. ^ ニホンナシ育成品種の系統図 ：果樹研
21. ^ NSW Primary Industries 2002. Nashi asian pear varieties, nitaka. Agfact H4.1.14
22. ^ ニホンナシ育成品種の系統図 ：果樹研
23. ^ NSW Primary Industries 2002. Nashi asian pear varieties, okusanki. Agfact H4.1.14
24. ^ ニホンナシ育成品種の系統図 ：果樹研
25. ^ NSW Primary Industries 2002. Nashi asian pear varieties, shinko. Agfact H4.1.14

External links

• Site of the Australian Nashi Growers Association
• Guidelines for the conduct of tests for distinctness, uniformity and stability - Japanese pear, The International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants, 1994-11-04.
• (Japanese) ニホンナシ育成品種の系統図 (Cultivar trees of Japanese pears), National Institute of Fruit Tree Science, Japan
• Shin Hiratsuka, Shao-Ling Zhang "Relationships between fruit set, pollen-tube growth, and S-RNase concentration in the self-incompatible Japanese pear" Scientia Horticulturae, 95 (4), 309-318 (2002).
• Carlos Castillo, Takeshi Takasaki, Toshihiro Saito, Shigemi Norioka, Tetsu Nakanishi "Clonlng of the S₈-RNase (S₈ allele) of Japanese Pear (Pyrus pylifolla Nakai)" Plant Biotechnology, 19 (1), 1-6 (2002).