Comprette
PearComprette
Origin / History
A Flemish seedling; Elliott lists it simply as "Foreign." M. P. Wilder, President of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, exhibited it at the Society's meeting in 1844. Hedrick cites the Horticulturist (1847), Downing's Fruits and Fruit Trees of America (1869), and Hogg's Fruit Manual (1884). Elliott's Western Fruit Book (1865) prints its brief description under the spelling "Comfrette," in two entries, one of them indexed as "Comprette" (pp. 425).
Tree
Not described in source.
Fruit
Size: Small; Elliott alone calls it medium.
Form: Obtuse pyriform.
Stem: Not described in source.
Cavity: Not described in source.
Calyx: Not described in source.
Basin: Not described in source.
Skin: Yellowish green. Hedrick describes it as smooth and greenish yellow, becoming lemon-yellow, strewed with patches of russet.
Dots: Russet (Hedrick).
Flesh and flavor: Flesh white, buttery. Hedrick adds melting, juicy, and sweet. The juice is sugary and perfumed (Downing); Thomas calls it rich and perfumed. Downing calls it "a Flemish seedling of little value," and Hedrick rates it "not of high merit."
Core and seeds: Not described in source.
Season
October and November; two authors name only one of the two months.
Uses
Not described in source.
Subtypes / Variants
Not described in source.
Other
Not described in source.
Book Sources
Described in 4 period pomological works
Nursery Catalog Sources
Found in 1 catalog (1849) from Massachusetts
- Hovey & Co. , Cambridge , Massachusetts — 1849
View original book sources (4)
— F.R. Elliott, The Western Fruit Book (1865)COMFRETTE.
Foreign. Medium, obtuse pyriform, yellowish green. October, November.
[Additional entry in this volume: "Comprette", pp. 425–425]
Comfrette.
Foreign. Medium, obtuse pyriform, yellowish green. October, November.
— A.J. Downing, The Fruits and Fruit Trees of America (1900)Comprette.
A Flemish seedling of little value. Fruit small, obtuse pyriform. Skin yellowish green. Flesh white, buttery, with a sugary perfumed juice. October, November.
— John J. Thomas, The American Fruit Culturist (1903)Comprette. Small, obtuse pyriform, yellowish-green; buttery, rich, perfumed. October. Flemish.
— U.P. Hedrick, The Pears of New York (1921)Comprette. 1. Horticulturist 2:174. 1847. 2. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 726. 1869. 3. Hogg Fruit Man. 552. 1884. A Flemish seedling. It was exhibited by M. P. Wilder, President of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society at the Society's meeting in 1844. Fruit small, obtuse-pyriform, smooth, greenish-yellow, becoming lemon-yellow, strewed with patches and dots of russet; flesh white, buttery, melting, juicy, sweet; not of high merit; Nov.