Bellissime d’Été. 7. Duhamel Trait. Arb. Fr. 2:203, Pl. XLII. 1768. 8. Mas Le Verger 2:193, fig. 95. 1866-73. 9. Leroy Dict. Pom. 1:216, fig. 1867. 10. Guide Prat. 70, 235. 1876.
Cuisse Madame. 11. Coxe Cult. Fr. Trees 181, fig. 11. 1817.
Red Muscadel. 12. Lindley Guide Orch. Gard. 346. 1831.
Bassin. 13. Hogg Fruit Man. 491. 1884.
Schönste Sommerbirne. 14. Mathieu Nom. Pom. 280. 1889.
This old sort, very different from Jargonelle, is worthy of description only to distinguish it from the much better and older pear of the same name. A generation ago this French Jargonelle was much grown in America, but has given way to better sorts. The pears are handsome, but are poor in quality and are edible only a day or two after maturity as they quickly rot at the center and become dry and mealy toward the periphery.
The name Jargonelle is used in France to denote a group of pears. This fact accounts for the confusion which exists among the names and synonyms of several varieties of this class. The French Jargonelle is said to have originated in Anjou, a former province in France, where it was much cultivated and highly esteemed toward the end of the fifteenth century.
Tree large, vigorous, upright, the younger branches inclined to droop, very productive; branches stocky, dark reddish-brown; branchlets often curved and drooping, short, sprinkled with elongated, inconspicuous lenticels. Leaf-buds large, conical, appressed. Leaves oval, enlarged at the base; apex abruptly pointed; margin coarsely serrate; petiole long, thick. Flower-buds large, long-conic; flowers medium in size.
Fruit ripens in August and September; medium to sometimes large, 3½ in. long, 2½ in. wide, obtuse-pyriform to oblong-pyriform; stem 1 in. long, slender, obliquely inserted; cavity obtuse, very shallow; calyx small, open; lobes long, projecting; basin variable in depth, small, irregular, furrowed; skin smooth, glossy; color lemon-yellow, blushed with red on the sunny side, occasionally marbled with thin orange-russet about the neck; dots light greenish or russet; flesh white, coarse, juicy, sweet, aromatic; quality good. Core large; seeds dark brown, small, narrow, long, often abortive.