Authors: C. Stace, R. van der Meijden (ed.) & I. de Kort (ed.)
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Scientific name:

Pyrus pyraster

Vernacular name:

Pear, Wild


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Wild Pear

Scientific name: Pyrus pyraster (L.) Burgsd.

Diagnostic features
Usually ± spiny shrub or tree to 15m.
Leaves 2.5-7cm, ovate to broadly so.
Fruits 1.5-4cm, globose to obovoid or obconical, yellow to reddish- or dark-brown.

Chromosome number: (2n=34).

Habitat
Introduced-naturalized; hedges and wood-margins.

Chromosome number: scattered throughout South & Central Britain, Channel Islands and Ireland; Europe.

This species is keyed out on Page 2473 in the Text Key.

Note
Two subspecies recently recognized (Pyrus pyraster (L.) Burgsd. subsp. pyraster, with ± glabrous leaves and globose to obconical fruits; Pyrus pyraster (L.) Burgsd. subsp. achras (Wallr.) Terpó, with pubescent leaves and obconical to obovoid fruits) seem scarcely distinct in practice. Many wild pears are probably stocks of formerly cultivated trees.

Pyrus pyraster (Pear, Wild)
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Pear, Wild
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