Groom Prince Royal. 1. Gard. Chron. 54, 161. 1841. 2. Hogg Fruit Man. 589. 1884.
Bergamotte Éliza Mathews. 3. Leroy Dict. Pom. 1:235, fig. 1867.
Princesse-Royale. 4. Leroy Dict. Pom. 2:561. 1869.
A Mr. Groom, a nurseryman at Clapham near London, introduced this pear in 1841. Fruit medium, globular or Bergamot-shaped, greenish-brown, with a tinge of yellow and slight traces of gray-russet; flesh melting, buttery, sometimes rather gritty, sweet, vinous, perfumed; a good second-rate pear; Jan. to Mar.
Gros Blanquet Long. 1. Leroy Dict. Pom. 2:241, fig. 1869.
Large Blanquet. 2. Hogg Fruit Man. 602. 1884.
Kreiselförmige Blankette. 3. Mathieu Nom. Pom. 244. 1889.
This is one of a group of pears which in the seventeenth century were designated by various pomologists with names such as Blanquet à longue queue, Blanquet d’hiver, etc. Their origin is ancient, possibly Roman. The variety here described is the largest of the Blanquettes and was said by Olivier de Serres in 1600 to be also named de Florence from which it might be adduced that it came originally from Tuscany. Fruit below medium and often small, obtuse-pyriform, smooth, of a beautiful yellow color, dotted with bright green and sometimes carmined on the cheek next the sun; flesh white, semi-fine, breaking, sweet, full of sugary juice possessing a musky-anis flavor; a dessert pear, second; July and Aug.
Gros Blanquet Rond. 1. Leroy Dict. Pom. 2:242, fig. 1869.
An ancient dessert pear mentioned by Claude Saint-Etienne in the seventeenth century and by Mawe and Abercrombie in their Universal Gardener and Botanist in 1778. Fruit below medium, globular-ovate, pale yellow covered with very fine russet dots, more or less washed with rose on the side of the sun; flesh yellow-white, breaking, rather coarse, almost exempt from grit; juice abundant, sugary, sourish, musky; third for dessert; Sept.