Germany, on the Rhine, Württemberg and Baden. First published in 1830. Fruit small, apple-shaped, often flat-turbinate, medium swelled, uneven; skin very firm, green, almost entirely covered with a dark, dirty red blush, scarcely dotted at all; good for household use and perry; Jan. to Mar.
Saint George. 1. Leroy Dict. Pom. 2:617, fig. 1869.
The Saint George was described by Diel, Stuttgart, Ger., in 1812, as a French pear originated on the Moselle. Fruit above medium and often larger, very long and always variable, often of Calebasse form, obtuse and contorted, sometimes ovate and regular in outline; skin thin, rough, greenish, much stained with gray around the calyx and covered with large brown dots and scaly patches of russet; flesh white, fine, melting, juice abundant, saccharine, acid and vinous, pleasantly perfumed; first; mid-Sept.
Saint Germain. 1. Duhamel Trait. Arb. Fr. 2:225, Pl. LII. 1768. 2. Bunyard Handb. Hardy Fr. 196. 1920.
Merlet, the French pomologist, wrote in 1680 that this pear originated from a wilding on the banks of the Fare, a little river in the parish of Saint Germain d’Areé. Fruit medium or large, long-pyriform, slightly swelled, often irregular in contour; skin rather thick and rough, greenish-yellow, dotted with russet, slightly golden on the cheek exposed to the sun; flesh whitish, fine, very melting, very juicy, rich in sugar with an agreeable, perfumed flavor; very good, but is gritty and worthless if grown on cold, moist soil; Nov. to Mar.
Saint Germain Gris. 1. Leroy Dict. Pom. 2:623, fig. 1869.
Found by M. Prévost, long president of the Horticultural Society of Seine-Inférieure, Fr., in the ancient garden of the Friars of Saint-Ouen, at Rouen, about the year 1804. Fruit medium to large, long-ovate, irregular in its upper part and often bossed and elevated more on one side of the stalk than on the other, grayish-green dotted with brown; flesh yellowish, semi-fine, melting, saccharine, juicy, slightly acidulous, with a deliciously scented flavor; first; mid-Dec. and Jan.
Saint Germain Panaché. 1. Leroy Dict. Pom. 2:625. 1869.
This variegated variety of Saint Germain is of French origin; the date of its publication is about 1819. Fruit simply a variegated form of the Saint Germain, covered with rather large bands of bright yellow sometimes extending from stem to calyx.
Saint Germain de Pepins. 1. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 850. 1869.