SOUVENIR D’ESPÉREN
1. Barry Fr. Garden 318. 1851. 2. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 857. 1869. 3. Tilton Jour. Hort. 6:14, fig. 1869.
Downing, in 1869, noted this old French pear as one of the best for either amateur or commercial grower, and at that time it was rather widely planted. Now, however, growers seldom set it. The trees are vigorous, hardy, healthy, and productive, and the fruits are attractive in appearance and rather good in quality, but neither tree nor fruit rise much above mediocrity, and the variety has no outstanding character to give it individuality. The crop comes in season in December, the pears keeping well until ripe, after which they quickly decay. The variety is worth planting only for the sake of diversity.
Major Espéren, Mechlin, Belgium, raised this pear from seed about the middle of the nineteenth century. The name Souvenir d’Espéren was at one time applied to Fondante de Noël in consequence of which confusion has existed as to the identity of the two sorts. The pear reached America about 1850.
Tree medium in size, upright, slightly spreading, dense-topped, productive; branches reddish-brown overlaid with thin scarf-skin, marked with very conspicuous but scattering lenticels; branchlets very thick and long, with long internodes, light brown mingled with green, dull, glabrous, sprinkled with small, conspicuous, raised lenticels.
Leaf-buds very small, short, pointed, plump, free. Leaves 3 in. long, 1⅝ in. wide; apex abruptly pointed; margin uneven, finely serrate; petiole 2⅝ in. long, tinged red. Flower-buds small, short, conical, plump, free, singly on very short spurs; flowers open late, showy, 1⅜ in. across, average 7 buds in a cluster; pedicels 1¼ in. long, slender.
Fruit ripe the last of November and December; large, 3½ in. long, 2⅝ in. wide, oblong-obovate-pyriform, the surface uneven; stem 1¼ in. long, slender; cavity very obtuse and shallow or lacking, the flesh drawn up about the base of the stem in a lip; calyx partly open, small; lobes separated at the base, short, narrow, acute; basin shallow, narrow, obtuse, wrinkled; skin thick, roughened with russet; color greenish-yellow, mottled and patched with russet, sprinkled with many russet dots and often with russet overspreading nearly the entire surface; dots numerous, russet, small; flesh yellowish, very granular near the center, firm, crisp but tender, juicy, with a pleasant, aromatic, vinous flavor; quality good to very good. Core large, closed, with clasping core-lines; calyx-tube short, wide, conical; seeds small, short, plump, acute, light brown.
