Directory of pear varieties
This gallery of photographs illustrates the pear's great range of forms and colours found in its hundreds of varieties.
- Bambinella
- Barland
- Barnet
- Barney Pear
- Baronne de Mello
- Bartlett
- Beacon
- Belle de Bruxelles
- Belle de Jumet
- Belle de Soignies
- Belle des Arbrés
- Belle Guérandaise
- Belle Julie
- Bellissime d'Hiver
- Bergamotte Espéren
- Bergamotte Fondante d'Été
- Bergamotte Hertrich
- Bergamotte Philippot
- Bergamotte Sannier
- Beth
- Beurré Alexandre Lucas
- Beurré Baget or Baguet
- Beurré Baltet Père
- Beurré Bedford
- Beurre Bosc
- Beurré Brown
- Beurré Capiaumont
- Beurré Clairgeau
- Beurré d'Amanlis
- Beurre d'Anjou
- Beurré d'Arenberg
- Beurré d'Avalon
- Beurré d'Avril
- Beurré de Beugny
- Beurré de Conitz
- Beurré de Jonghe
- Beurré de l'Assomption
- Beurré de Naghin
- Beurré Diel
- Beurré Dilly
- Beurré Dubuissson
- Beurré Dumont
- Beurré Duval
- Beurré Fouqueray
- Beurré François
- Beurré Giffard
- Beurré Gris d'Hiver Nouveau
- Beurre Hardy (EMLA)
- Beurré Henri Courcelle
- Beurré Jean van Geert
- Beurré Luizet
- Beurré Mortillet
- Beurré Papa la Fosse/Lafosse
- Beurré Precoce Morettini
- Beurré Rance
- Beurré Six
- Beurré Sterckmans
- Beurre Superfin
- Beurré Vauban
- Bishop's Thumb
- Black Worcester
- Blakeney Red
- Bon-Chrétien d'Hiver
- Bon-Chrétien Frédéric Baudry
- Bon-Chrétien Walraevens
- Bonne d'Ezée
- Bonneserre de Saint-Denis
- Botzi Blanc
- Brandy
- Bristol Cross
- Broom Park
- Butirra di Roma
- Butirra Rosata Morettini
- Butt
- Buzás Körte
Each photograph attempts to capture the external key features that define the variety - its appearance, shape and some notion of size. Most of the images also try to show the nature of the stalk and its cavity and, at the opposite end of the fruit, the eye and its basin. These are described in detail in The Book of Pears, together with other features that characterise the variety and underpin its value: taste, texture, season, history and information relating to its cultivation, plus a Pear Key to help track down an unknown pear. Pictures of almost all of the varieties in The Book of Pears are shown on this website. All of them grow and were photographed in the Defra National Fruit Collection at Brogdale, near Faversham in Kent, south east England (except where noted).
Putting a name to a pear
Here are some examples of the main features used to identify a pear variety that you can find in the Directory images.
- Appearance: smooth skinned, pale yellow with a flush of pink (Santa Maria), almost entirely flushed in red (Robin), partly or completely covered in russet (Hessle, Baronne de Mello).
- Size: small (Bambinella), large (Uvedale’s St Germain).
- Shape: short-round-conical or bergamot (Autumn Bergamot), conical (Beurré Hardy), pyriform (Williams’ Bon-Chrétien or Bartlett), oval (Marie-Louise), long pyriform or calebasse (Conference). Some pears are ribbed and also bossed, that is ribbed around the eye (Le Lectier).
- Stalk and Cavity: short and thick (Gorham), long and thin (Jargonelle), set in a shallow or no cavity (Figue d’Alençon ) or a deep, broad cavity (Olivier de Serres). Some pears appear hooked at the stalk-end (Bishop’s Thumb).
- Eye and Basin: open (Vicar of Winkfield), closed (Doyenné du Comice) set in a basin that is shallow (Beacon) or deep and broad (Duchesse d’Angoulême).