Editing Pear (section)

== History ==
[[File:Bradford 9288.JPG|thumb|''[[Pyrus calleryana]]'' in flower]]
[[Pomology|Pear cultivation]] in [[temperate climate]]s extends to the remotest antiquity, and evidence exists of its use as a food since prehistoric times. Many traces have been found in [[prehistoric pile dwellings around Lake Zurich]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Antolín |first1=Ferran |last2=Bleicher |first2=Niels |last3=Brombacher |first3=Christoph |last4=Kühn |first4=Marlu |last5=Steiner |first5=Bigna L. |last6=Jacomet |first6=Stefanie |date=2016-06-06 |title=Quantitative approximation to large-seeded wild fruit use in a late Neolithic lake dwelling: New results from the case study of layer 13 of Parkhaus Opéra in Zürich (Central Switzerland) |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1040618215007570 |journal=Quaternary International |series=Archaeobotany of wild plant use: Approaches to the exploitation of wild plant resources in the past and its social implications |volume=404 |pages=56–68 |doi=10.1016/j.quaint.2015.08.003 |bibcode=2016QuInt.404...56A |issn=1040-6182}}</ref> Pears were cultivated in China as early as 2000 BC.<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Prance |editor1-first=Ghillean |editor2-last=Nesbitt |editor2-first=Mark |last1=Clement |first1=Charles R. |date=2005 |title=The Cultural History of Plants |publisher=Routledge |page=86 |isbn=0415927463}}</ref> An article on Pear tree cultivation in [[Spain]] is brought down in [[Ibn al-'Awwam]]'s 12th-century agricultural work, ''Book on Agriculture''.<ref>{{cite book|last=Ibn al-'Awwam|first=Yaḥyá|author-link=Ibn al-'Awwam|title=Le livre de l'agriculture d'Ibn-al-Awam (kitab-al-felahah) |year=1864|location=Paris|publisher=A. Franck|translator=J.-J. Clement-Mullet |pages=240–242 (ch. 7 - Article 12)|url=https://archive.org/details/lelivredelagric00algoog/page/n14/mode/2up |language=fr|oclc=780050566}} (pp. [https://archive.org/details/lelivredelagric00algoog/page/n348/mode/2up 240]–242 (Article XII)</ref>

The word ''pear'', or its equivalent, occurs in all the [[Celtic languages]], while in Slavic and other dialects, differing appellations still referring to the same thing are found—a diversity and multiplicity of [[nomenclature]], which led [[Alphonse Pyramus de Candolle]] to infer a very ancient cultivation of the tree from the shores of the Caspian to those of the Atlantic.<ref name=":5">{{Cite book |last=de Candolle |first=Alphonse |title=The Origin of Cultivated Plants: The International Scientific Series Volume XLVIII |date=1908 |publisher=D. Appleton and Company |location=New York}}</ref>

The pear was also cultivated by the Romans, who ate the fruits raw or cooked, just like apples.<ref name="Toussaint-Samat2009">{{cite book|author=Toussaint-Samat, Maguelonne |title=A History of Food|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QmevzbQ0AsIC&pg=PA573|year= 2009|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=978-1-4443-0514-2|page=573}}</ref> [[Natural History (Pliny)|Pliny's ''Natural History'']] recommended stewing them with [[honey]] and noted three dozen varieties. The Roman cookbook ''[[De re coquinaria]]'' has a recipe for a spiced, stewed-pear ''patina'', or [[soufflé]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Apicius (with an introd. and an Engl. transl.)|year=2006|publisher=Prospect Books|location=Blackawton, Totnes|isbn=978-1-903018-13-2|page=IV.2.35 |author1=Grainger, Sally  |author2=Grocock, Christopher |name-list-style=amp }}</ref> Romans also introduced the fruit to Britain.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Lyle|first=Katie Letcher|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/560560606|title=The Complete Guide to Edible Wild Plants, Mushrooms, Fruits, and Nuts: How to Find, Identify, and Cook Them|publisher=[[FalconGuides]]|year=2010|isbn=978-1-59921-887-8|edition=2nd|location=Guilford, CN|pages=105|oclc=560560606|orig-year=2004}}</ref>

''[[Pyrus nivalis]]'', which has white down on the [[Epidermis (botany)|undersurface]] of the leaves, is chiefly used in Europe in the manufacture of [[perry]] (see also [[cider]]).<ref name=":5" /><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Kole |first1=Chittaranjan |title=Wild Crop Relatives: Genomic and Breeding Resources Temperate Fruits |last2=Kole |first2=Chittaranjan |date=2011 |publisher=Springer Berlin Heidelberg Springer e-books |isbn=978-3-642-16057-8 |series=Biomedical and Life Sciences (Springer-11642) |location=Berlin, Heidelberg}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last=Itai |first=A. |title=Pear |date=2007 |work=Fruits and Nuts |series=Genome Mapping and Molecular Breeding in Plants |volume=4 |pages=157–170 |editor-last=Kole |editor-first=Chittaranjan |url=http://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-3-540-34533-6_6 |access-date=2024-06-08 |place=Berlin, Heidelberg |publisher=Springer Berlin Heidelberg |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-3-540-34533-6_6 |isbn=978-3-540-34531-2|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Other small-fruited pears, distinguished by their early ripening and globose fruit, may be referred to as ''P. cordata'', a species found wild in southwestern Europe.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Aldasoro |first1=J. J. |last2=Aedo |first2=C. |last3=Garmendia |first3=F. MuñOz |date=2008-06-28 |title=The genus Pyrus L. (Rosaceae) in south-west Europe and North Africa |url=https://academic.oup.com/botlinnean/article-lookup/doi/10.1111/j.1095-8339.1996.tb00749.x |journal=Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society |language=en |volume=121 |issue=2 |pages=143–158 |doi=10.1111/j.1095-8339.1996.tb00749.x|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=AYDIN |first1=ZÜBEYDE |last2=DÖNMEZ |first2=ALİ |date=2015-01-01 |title=Taxonomic and nomenclatural contributions to Pyrus L. (Rosaceae) from Turkey |url=https://journals.tubitak.gov.tr/botany/vol39/iss5/10 |journal=Turkish Journal of Botany |volume=39 |issue=5 |pages=841–849 |doi=10.3906/bot-1411-34 |bibcode=2015TJBot..39..841U |issn=1300-008X|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Pyrus cordata {{!}} Plymouth pear Trees/RHS Gardening |url=http://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/80716/pyrus-cordata/details |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240608171406/https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/80716/pyrus-cordata/details |archive-date=2024-06-08 |access-date=2024-06-08 |website=www.rhs.org.uk |language=en-gb}}</ref>

The [[genus]] is thought to have originated in present-day [[Western China]]<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Silva|first1=G. J.|last2=Souza|first2=Tatiane Medeiros|last3=Barbieri|first3=Rosa Lía|last4=Costa de Oliveira|first4=Antonio|date=2014|title=Origin, Domestication, and Dispersing of Pear ( Pyrus spp.)|journal=Advances in Agriculture|volume=2014|issue=1 |pages=1–8|doi=10.1155/2014/541097|issn=2356-654X|url=http://ainfo.cnptia.embrapa.br/digital/bitstream/item/103454/1/Rosa-Lia.pdf|doi-access=free|bibcode=2014AdvAg201441097S }}</ref> in the foothills of the [[Tian Shan]], a mountain range of Central Asia, and to have spread to the north and south along mountain chains, evolving into a diverse group of over 20 widely recognized primary species.<ref name=":4" /> The enormous number of varieties of the cultivated European pear (''[[Pyrus communis]]'' subsp. ''communis''), are likely derived from one or two wild [[subspecies]] (''P. c.'' subsp. ''pyraster'' and ''P. c.'' subsp. ''caucasica''), widely distributed throughout Europe, and sometimes forming part of the natural vegetation of the forests.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2" /> Court accounts of [[Henry III of England]] record pears shipped from La Rochelle-Normande and presented to the king by the sheriffs of the City of London.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Amherst |first=Alicia |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofgardeni00cecirich |title=A History of Gardening in England by the Hon. Alicia (M.T.) Amherst ... |date=1895 |publisher=B. Quaritch}}</ref> The French names of pears grown in English medieval gardens suggest that their reputation, at the least, was French; a favoured variety in the accounts was named for Saint [[Rieul of Senlis]], Bishop of [[Senlis]] in northern France.<ref name="Cecil">{{cite book|author=Cecil, Evelyn |title=A History of Gardening in England|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Fk4KTrvZ8nMC|year= 2006|publisher=Kessinger Publishing|isbn=978-1-4286-3680-4|pages=35 ff}}</ref>

Asian species with medium to large edible fruit include ''P. pyrifolia'', ''P. ussuriensis'', ''P. × bretschneideri'', and ''P. × sinkiangensis''.<ref name=":2" />  Small-fruited species, such as ''[[Pyrus calleryana]],'' may be used as [[rootstock]]s for the cultivated forms.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":6">{{Cite web |title=Rootstocks for Pear {{!}} WSU Tree Fruit {{!}} Washington State University |url=https://treefruit.wsu.edu/web-article/pear-rootstocks/ |access-date=2024-06-08 |language=en-US}}</ref>