3. BELLISSIME d'HIVER.

[Syn : Teton de Venus; Belle de Noisette; Vermillion d'Espagne.]

Nothing is to be found with reference to the origin of this fine pear, but it is a variety which has long been known and is well described by Duhamel (1758) and other old writers.

Description.—Fruit : very large, four inches wide and three inches and three quarters high ; roundish, turbinate. Skin : smooth and somewhat shining, of a fine deep green colour on the shaded side, and fine vermillion next the sun ; strewed all over with large brown russet dots. Eye : large and open, set in a rather deep basin. Stalk : an inch long stout and somewhat fleshy, particularly at the insertion, where it is placed in a rather deep cavity with a fleshy swelling on one side of it. Flesh : white, fine grained, crisp and tender, sweet, and with a musky flavour.

The tree is a free and vigorous grower, an excellent bearer, and succeeds well as a standard either on the pear, or the quince stock. It is one of the very best culinary pears and quite free from the disagreeable grittiness which is peculiar to baking pears generally. " Elle est beaucoup meilleure cuite sous la cloche que le Catillac. On peut meme en faire d'assez bonnes compotes " says Duhamel, Vol. II., p. 235. In favourable situations, it is superior in size and in every other respect to the Catillac. It is in season from November to April.

— Woolhope Naturalists Field Club, The Herefordshire Pomona (1885)

Bellissime d'Hiver. Vermillon d'Hiver des Dames. Du Bur. Bellisime du Bur. Belle Noisette.

An old Pear, valuable only for cooking. Fruit large, obovate obtuse pyriform, greenish yellow, with shade of red in the sun, and many russet dots. Flesh white, fine, sweet, breaking, not gritty. November, January.

— A.J. Downing, The Fruits and Fruit Trees of America (1900)

BELLISIME D'HIVER. Her. Pom. I., 15. G. Schönster Winterbirn. Culinary, till March, large, 3½ by 4, oval to oval conical, even. Skin, smooth, shining. Colour, green to palish yellow with red flush and marked with conspicuous dots. Flesh, white, tender, free from grit. Eye, open, rather large in an even shallow basin. Stem, medium, slender, woody, in a slight cavity. Growth, vigorous, upright, makes a well spurred tree; fertility very good. Leaf, narrow oval, slightly undulating, shallow crenate, turns pale yellow red. Origin, an old variety known in France since the 17th century. Undoubtedly one of the very best culinary pears; it does not turn dark in cooking like Catillac but is superior in every other respect: it does well as a standard.

[Additional entry in this volume: "Bellissime d'Hiver", pp. 160–160]

BELLISIME D'HIVER. Her. Pom. I., 15. G. Schönster Winterbirn. Culinary, till March, large, 3½ by 4, oval to oval conical, even. Skin, smooth, shining. Colour, green to palish yellow with red flush and marked with conspicuous dots. Flesh, white, tender, free from grit. Eye, open, rather large in an even shallow basin. Stem, medium, slender, woody, in a slight cavity. Growth, vigorous, upright, makes a well spurred tree; fertility very good. Leaf, narrow oval, slightly undulating, shallow crenate, turns pale yellow red. Origin, an old variety known in France since the 17th century. Undoubtedly one of the very best culinary pears; it does not turn dark in cooking like Catillac but is superior in every other respect: it does well as a standard.

— E.A. Bunyard, A Handbook of Hardy Fruits (1920)

Bellissime d'Hiver.

1. Duhamel Trait Arb. Fr. 2:234. 1768. 2. Hogg Fruit Man. 496. 1884.

An old French pear described by Duhamel du Monceau in 1768. By some, Merlet is believed to refer to it in 1690 when writing of the Bellissime d'Hiver de Bur, but this latter is regarded by Leroy as synonymous with Belle Angevine. Fruit very large, larger than the Catillac, globular, turbinate, mammillate; skin smooth, thick, green changing to dark yellow, washed on the side of the sun with a beautiful tint of bright carmine, strewed all over with large brown-russet dots; flesh white, fine grained, crisp, tender, juicy, sweet, musky; one of the very best culinary pears; all the winter till May.

[Additional entry in this volume: "Belle de Noisette", pp. 447–447]

Belle de Noisette,

i. Mas Pom. Gen. 6:17, fig. 393. 1880.

A French pear of unknown origin. Fruit large, obovate-obtuse-pyriform, short and thick, attaining its greatest breadth around its center; skin thick and rather rough, at first green sown with dots of grayish-brown, numerous and scattered regularly; at maturity the green passes into lemon-yellow and the side next the sun is clouded with red; flesh white, rather fine, breaking, with a small amount of sugary juice, acid and slightly perfumed; suited only for culinary purposes; keeps well through the winter; the tree is equally vigorous on quince or pear stock.

— U.P. Hedrick, The Pears of New York (1921)

Bellissime d'Hiver, large, with a good flavour, fine for late use

— James Veitch & Sons, Veitch's Fruit Trees (1911) (1911)