European Pear

Pyrus communis
European Pear branch with fruit (Image Courtesy of USDA, ARS)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Rosids
Order:	Rosales
Family:	Rosaceae
Genus:	Pyrus
Species:	P. communis
Binomial name
Pyrus communis L.
Synonyms
Pyrus domestica (L.) Ehrh.

Pyrus domestica (L.) Ehrh.

Pyrus communis, known as the European pear or common pear, is a species of pear native to central and eastern Europe and southwest 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 pears, the Nashi pear (Pyrus pyrifolia) and the hybrid Chinese white or ya pear (Pyrus × bretschneideri, Chinese: 白梨; pinyin: báilí) are more widely grown in East Asia.

The cultivated European pear (P. communis subsp. communis) is thought to be descended from two subspecies of wild pears, categorized as P. communis subsp. pyraster (syn. P. pyraster) and P. communis subsp. caucasica (syn. P. caucasica), which are interfertile with domesticated pears. Archeological evidence shows these pears "were collected from the wild long before their introduction into cultivation", according to Zohary and Hopf. Although they point to finds of pears in sites in Neolithic and Bronze Age European sites, "reliable information on pear cultivation first appears in the works of the Greek and the Roman writers."Theophrastus, Cato the Elder, and Pliny the Elder all present information about the cultivation and grafting of pears.

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Wikipedia