Ussurian Pear - Pyrus usseriensis

One popular website lists the Ussurian pear as a "dense, round-headed small to medium sized tree." I'm here to tell you this tree takes many shapes and can be a large tree by any measure. These pictures, taken at the Morton Arboretum at Lisle, Illinois, speak volumes about accepting blindly the pronouncements of experts.

Ussurian pear is native to the Soviet Far East (Russian Federation, Primorye), China, Japan and Korea. [1] Pyrus ussuriensis is the hardiest of the pears. Growth habit is rounded and dense, reaching 40 to 50 feet in height. The foliage is glossy dark green in summer, and reddish-purple or red in the fall. Flowers are 1 1/3 inches in diameter, pinkish buds opening to white flowers, in late spring. The fruit is round, greenish-yellow pome. It is the least susceptible to fireblight. Used most often as a rootstock for other pears, this winter hardy species is vigorous and disease resistant. Hardy to -30F (-34.4C); height: 25ft.

Under good growing conditions, wild pear trees have a remarkably slender form with a characteristic rising crown. In less favorable conditions they show other characteristic growth forms, such as one-sided or extremely low crowns. Trees can reach heights of 22 m with clean trunks up to 10 m, and diameters of 45-80 cm (maximum 130) at an age of 80-150 years (maximum 250).

Wild cherry (Prunus avium [L.] L.), wild apple (Malus sylvestris [L.] Mill.), and wild pear (Pyrus pyraster [L.] Burgsd.) belong to the plant family Rosaceae. These insect-pollinated species are autochthonous in nearly all European countries, but with a very scattered occurrence. They are generally rare species in mixed hardwood forests. Prunus avium still exists in natural populations of limited size, e.g. in France, Italy and Germany, although most of the trees occur as single individuals or in small groups. Owing to their weak competitive ability, M. sylvestris and P. pyraster exist mostly at the edge of forests, in hedges on farmland or on very extreme sites where the stronger competitors do not survive either. Even there they occur only as single individuals or very few trees in small groups.

All three wild fruit tree species are native to central, western and southern Europe. Pyrus pyraster does not occur naturally only in the north European countries. Malus sylvestris and P. avium were introduced into new areas where they can be grown. Nevertheless, the knowledge about autochthonous origin is often insufficient. Therefore, it is necessary to prepare a survey of the natural range in Europe and to improve the information about the occurrence of autochthonous stands, groups or individual trees of the pure species not contaminated by domesticated cultivars or originating from those. This should be done in close cooperation between research institutions. The results of such surveys can be shown in maps as, for example, the occurrence of M. sylvestris or of P. pyraster in northern Germany. Each occurrence was registered by its geographical data and additional information was assessed.

In comparison with other tree species, one can also assume that these tree species migrated into southern refugia during the different glacial periods, e.g. into areas south of the Alps. There are also several closely related species, e.g. Pyrus nivalis in southeastern Europe or Pyrus amygdaliformis, which occurs only in southern Europe (e.g. Mtitlea and Slovenia). Malus sylvestris has a great intraspecific variability where several varieties can be differentiated. The intraspecific variability should be maintained by suitable conservation methods. (2)

Pear has fine-grained wood pink to yellow in tone. It is prized for woodwind instruments and its veneer is used for fine furniture. Pear has one of the finest of textures of the fruitwoods, and was often used in making instruments such as lutes, recorders and - because of its hardness - the jacks of harpsichords.

Ussurian Pear Foliage, acc. 2490-22-1

The three minor Noble Hardwood species are important from an ecological as well as from an economical point of view. They are growing in mixed hardwood forests, often at the margins of forest stands due to competition for light. In mixed hardwood stands with beech as a major component thinning usually favors the minor Noble Hardwood species in order to prevent heavy competition and to reach sufficient size for an economically interesting utilization.

The cultivation of the pear extends to the remotest antiquity. Traces of it have been found in the Swiss lake-dwellings; it is mentioned in the oldest Greek writings, and was cultivated by the Romans. The word "pear" or its equivalent occurs in all the Celtic languages, while in Slavonic and other dialects different appellations, but still referring to the same thing, are found—a diversity and multiplicity of nomenclature which led Alphonse de Candolle to infer a very ancient cultivation of the tree from the shores of the Caspian to those of the Atlantic. A certain race of pears, with white down on the under surface of their leaves, is supposed to have originated from P. nivalis, and their fruit is chiefly used in France in the manufacture of Perry (see Cider). Other small-fruited pears, distinguished by their precocity and apple-like fruit, may be referred to P. cordata, a species found wild in western France, and in Devonshire and Cornwall. Pears have been cultivated in China for approximately 3000 years. -- from Wikipedia

Ussurian Pear at Morton Arboretum, from seed planted in 1926. Acc. 2367-26*1

Ussurian Pear Blossoms

Ussurian Pear in Bloom

References:

USDA, ARS, National Genetic Resources Program. Germplasm Resources Information Network - (GRIN), Pyrus ussuriensis Maxim
European Forest Genetic Research Program

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