Bergamotte d'Automne
PearBergamotte d'Automne
Origin and History
The origin of this pear has been a subject of scholarly dispute. Benedictus Curtius, a Florentine author writing in 1536, attributed its origin to Bergamo in Lombardy. However, Jean Bodaeus, a Dutch physician, advanced a competing theory in his 1644 translation of Theophrastus's Historic Plantarum. Bodaeus stated that the Bergamote originated in Asia and was imported to Italy by the Romans, where it was known as the Pirum Regium (pear of Kings). If the Asian origin is correct, the likely birthplace was Pergamum, a village of Asia Minor situated between the Ægean and Marmora seas. This Asian-origin view was adopted by prominent eighteenth-century authorities including Lacour, Henri Manger and Manage, and later by Leroy.
Fruit
Size and Form: Medium; variable but usually globular-oblate.
Skin: Greenish-yellow, dotted and striped with russet.
Flesh and Flavor: Whitish, fine, melting, generally gritty, sweet, savory. Rated as "first" quality.
Season
October to January.
Tree
Not described in source.
Uses
Not described in source.
Other
Quality Classification: Designated as "first" quality in Hedrick's classification system, indicating excellence as a dessert fruit.
Historical References: The variety was documented by Duhamel (1768), Leroy (1867), and Mathieu (1889). An alternative name, Rote Bergamotte, is recorded in historical literature.
Book Sources
Described in 1 period pomological work
View original book sources (1)
— U.P. Hedrick, The Pears of New York (1921)Bergamotte d'Automne.
- Duhamel. Trait. Arb. Fr. 2:165, Pl. XXI. 1768. 2. Leroy Diet. Pom. 1:223, fig. 1867. Rote Bergamotte. 3. Mathieu Nom. Pom. 271. 1889.
Authorities fail to agree on the origin of this pear. Benedictus Curtius, a Florentine author writing in 1536, thought it had birth at Bergamo in Lombardy. But in 1644, Jean Bodaeus, a Dutch physician, in his translation of the Historic. Plantarum of Theophrastus, states that the Bergamote came from Asia, whence the Romans had imported it to Italy and that it was known to them as the Pirum Regium or pear of Kings. If it originated in Asia, the probability is that its birth-place was Pergamum, a village of Asia Minor between the Ægean and Marmora seas. This view was accepted in the eighteenth century by such authorities as Lacour, Henri Manger and Manage, and later by Leroy.
Fruit medium; variable but usually globular-oblate, greenish-yellow, dotted and striped with russet, flesh whitish, fine, melting, generally gritty, sweet, savory; first; Oct. to Jan.