Curly Red Haired Girl In The Wooden Cottage Posing With Apples And Pears

Other species are used as rootstocks for European and Asian pears and as ornamental trees. The Siberian pear, Pyrus ussuriensis (which produces unpalatable fruit) has been crossed with Pyrus communis to breed hardier pear cultivars. The Bradford pear (Pyrus calleryana 'Bradford') in particular has become widespread in North America, and is used only as an ornamental tree, as well as a blight-resistant rootstock for Pyrus communis fruit orchards. The willow-leafed pear (Pyrus salicifolia) is grown for its attractive, slender, densely silvery-hairy leaves.
• Harvest
Summer and autumn cultivars of Pyrus communis, being climacteric fruits, are gathered before they are fully ripe, while they are still green, but snap off when lifted. In the case of the 'Passe Crassane', long the favored winter pear in France, the crop is traditionally gathered at three different times: the first a fortnight or more before it is ripe, the second a week or ten days after that, and the third when fully ripe. The first gathering will come into eating last, and thus the season of the fruit may be considerably prolonged.