Pyrus boissieriana
Credits
Article from New Trees by John Grimshaw & Ross Bayton
Recommended citation
'Pyrus boissieriana' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.
Genus
Shrub or tree, 5–15 m. Branchlets spiny, initially brown-pubescent, later glabrous. Bud scales grey with ciliate margins. Leaves deciduous, 3–6 × 2.5–5 cm, circular to ovate, upper surface green and glabrous, lower surface pale green and somewhat woolly, margins serrulate, apex obtuse. Corymb with numerous flowers; pedicels ~3 cm long. Flowers white; sepals triangular-acuminate with glandular margins and ferruginous tomentum on the inner surface, petals ~0.8 cm wide. Pome reddish brown with white spots, globose to subpyriform, ~1.5 cm diameter with persistent sepals. Flowering April to May, fruiting autumn (Iran). Schönbeck-Temesy 1969. Distribution AZERBAIJAN; IRAN; TURKEY; TURKMENISTAN (?). Habitat Between 1000 and 2400 m asl. USDA Hardiness Zone 5. Conservation status Not evaluated. Taxonomic note This species is sometimes treated as a synonym of P. communis.
Pyrus boissieriana could perhaps be perceived as being of botanical interest only, as part of the P. communis alliance (see below), but has been introduced from Iran on at least two occasions. Most notable is the specimen of about 12 m at the Hillier Gardens, grown from Ala & Lancaster 37, collected on that famous winter journey (Lancaster 1974). This is a beautiful sturdy tree, with wide-spreading branches bearing attractive smallish glossy leaves. The other known example in cultivation grows at Kew. Much smaller, measured at 5 m in 2001 (TROBI), it derives from a collection (FLSX 398) made by the Fliegner & Simmons Expedition to Iran in 1977, from c.2400 m on the Kandaran Pass in the Elburz mountains. This attractive species deserves to be propagated and distributed more widely.