Marmorirte Schmalzbirne. 11. Dochnahl Führ. Obstkunde 2:65. 1856.
Dechantsbirne von Alençon. 12. Mathieu Nom. Pom. 201. 1889.
This old French pear is worth planting, if the trees can be obtained, because of its very late fruits and long season. The pears come in season under ordinary conditions in December and keep until March. The fruits are not remarkable for either taste or appearance, but are good for a winter product when there is little competition with other varieties. The pears are admirably adapted for culinary purposes. In some seasons the pears fail to ripen, and the variety should be planted only on warm soils and in situations where the season is warm and long. Tree and fruit have a family resemblance to Easter Beurré; the latter, however, is generally a better pear than this one. This variety is much grown in Europe on the quince, and in the various fanciful forms Europeans make use of in training fruit trees.
Doyenné d’Alençon is reported to be a wilding discovered by the Abbé Malassis near Alençon, Orne, France, and propagated by M. Thuillier, a nurseryman at Alençon. There was, however, a pear of the same name and season found at Orléans in 1628, in the orchard of Le Lectier, the renowned pomologist. It is probable that the pear which M. Thuillier propagated was the one found many years previously by Le Lectier. The variety must have been introduced into America between 1840 and 1850, as it was mentioned by the American Pomological Society in 1856 as one of the promising new pears. In 1858, the Society added the variety to its fruit-catalog, but discontinued recommending it in 1897.
Tree medium in size and vigor, upright, dense-topped, productive; trunk thick, shaggy; branches stocky, reddish-brown lightly covered with gray scarf-skin; branchlets slender, curved, short, with short internodes, light brown, with a faint reddish tinge, smooth, pubescent near the tips of the new growth, with numerous small, raised, conspicuous lenticels.
Leaf-buds small, short, sharply pointed, plump, free; leaf-scars with prominent shoulders. Leaves 2¾ in. long, 1⅛ in. wide, thin; apex taper-pointed; margin with few glands, coarsely serrate; petiole 2⅝ in. long, glabrous, with tinge of red, slender. Flower-buds small, short, conical, plump, free, arranged singly on short spurs; flowers early, 1¼ in. across, in dense clusters, average 9 buds in a cluster; pedicels ⅝ in. long, lightly pubescent.
Fruit ripe December to February; 2⅞ in. long, 2⅜ in. wide, medium in size, obovate-obtuse-pyriform, symmetrical, uniform; stem ¾ in. long, thick, curved; cavity obtuse, shallow, symmetrical, often slightly lipped, small; calyx open, large; lobes not separated at the base, broad, narrow; basin narrow, abrupt, smooth, symmetrical; skin very thick, tough, roughish; color dull greenish-yellow, with a faint orange blush on the exposed cheek, marked with many brown and russet dots and netted with russet; dots numerous, small, brownish-russet, inconspicuous; flesh tinged with yellow, granular at the center, tender and melting, juicy, aromatic, with a lively vinous flavor; quality good. Core large, closed, axile, with clasping core-lines; calyx-tube short, wide, conical; seeds large, wide, long, plump, acute.
