Doyenné Du Comice
Pear
Doyenné Du Comice
Origin/History
The parent tree of Doyenné du Comice was raised from the first seed bed made in the fruit-garden of the Comice Horticole, Angers, Department of Maine-et-Loire, France. In November 1849 it produced its first fruit, which was at once so highly esteemed that it was given the name Doyenné du Comice (Hedrick). It was placed on the market with unusual promptitude and rapidly distributed in foreign lands, reaching America about 1850. The American Pomological Society recommended it for general cultivation in 1862 (Hedrick). Downing, writing in 1900, described it as a French pear of comparatively recent introduction which promises to be of much value.
Hedrick observes that the variety has been esteemed long and justly for the beauty and high quality of its fruits, noting that many consider it the best of all pears. In Europe it is reported as doing especially well on the quince. On the Pacific slope of North America it has proven a valuable commercial variety; elsewhere it is largely confined to the home orchard or the collection of the pear-fancier.
Tree
Vigor and habit: Hedrick describes the tree as vigorous, characteristically upright, and dense, usually productive. Downing characterizes it as moderately vigorous and upright. The Herefordshire Pomona notes the tree grows well and bears pretty freely. Hedrick cautions, however, that young trees make a poor growth in the nursery; young or old, the trees must be humored in soil, climate, and care; they are subject to blight; productivity, while usually reliable, is not always so even where vigorous, healthy, and hardy; and the variety is a little below average in hardihood to cold. The variety is seldom at home in New York.
Branches and branchlets: Branches smooth, dull gray mingled with greenish-brown, marked with large lenticels; branchlets long, brown tinged with red, glabrous, with many small, slightly raised, conspicuous lenticels (Hedrick). Downing notes that young wood is a rich warm reddish yellow brown.
Buds and leaf-scars: Leaf-buds large, medium to long, conical, pointed, nearly free; leaf-scars prominent. Flower-buds short, conical, free (Hedrick).
Leaves: 3½ in. long, 1½ in. wide, oval, leathery; margin finely serrate; petiole ¾ in. long (Hedrick).
Flowers: Blossoms open late. Flowers 1½ in. across, in dense clusters of about 8 buds; pedicels ¾ in. long, slender, pubescent, light green (Hedrick).
Rootstock notes: The Herefordshire Pomona notes the tree forms handsome pyramids on the quince, a form in which the blossoms can be given some protection — protection that its merits richly deserve. Hedrick corroborates that the variety does especially well on the quince in Europe.
Fruit
Size: Large. The Herefordshire Pomona gives dimensions of approximately 3 inches wide and 3½ inches high. Hedrick measures the fruit at 3 in. long and 2½ in. wide.
Form: Herefordshire Pomona: pyramidal or obovate, sometimes rather uneven in its outline. Downing: roundish pyriform or broad obtuse pyriform, sometimes obtuse. Hedrick: obovate-obtuse-pyriform or roundish, with unequal sides. All sources agree on asymmetry or unevenness as a characteristic feature.
Stem: Hedrick: 1½ in. long, very thick, usually curved. Herefordshire Pomona: half an inch to an inch long, fleshy at the base; sometimes curved and inserted in a round narrow cavity; sometimes very short and stout and obliquely inserted almost at right angles with the fruit. Downing: short, stout, inclined. The three sources give conflicting stem lengths — Herefordshire ½ to 1 in., Hedrick 1½ in. — and all agree on a thick, stout character with a tendency to curve or oblique insertion.
Cavity: Obtuse, shallow, narrow, russeted and wrinkled; often with a fleshy ring around the base of the stem (Hedrick). Downing also notes the cavity is often russeted.
Calyx: Small and open (Herefordshire Pomona, Downing). Hedrick describes the lobes as separated at the base, long, narrow, and acuminate; the Herefordshire Pomona describes the segments as short and pointed — these accounts conflict on lobe length.
Basin: The Herefordshire Pomona describes the eye as set in a considerable depression. Downing calls the basin large, deep, and uneven. Hedrick gives it as medium to wide, obtuse, and often furrowed. Downing and Hedrick conflict on depth and size.
Skin: The Herefordshire Pomona: lemon yellow with a greenish tinge, considerably covered with speckles and patches of pale brown russet, particularly so round the eye and the stalk. Downing: greenish yellow, becoming fine yellow at maturity, often lightly shaded with crimson and fawn in the sun, with slight nettings and patches of russet, and thickly sprinkled with russet dots. Hedrick: tough and granular, smooth except for the russet markings, dull in finish; color clear yellow, often with a very faint russet-red blush on the exposed cheek, the surface heavily covered with large patches and nettings of attractive russet; dots many, very small, dark brown, obscure. On the sun-blush: Downing describes it as often present and noticeably shaded with crimson and fawn, while Hedrick characterizes it as only very faint.
Flesh and flavor: Herefordshire Pomona: yellowish white, very tender, buttery and melting, very juicy, rich, sweet, and delicately perfumed, with a sort of cinnamon flavour. Downing: white, fine, melting, a little buttery, juicy, sweet, rich, slightly aromatic; quality very good or best. Hedrick: tinged strongly with yellow, fine-grained near the outside but granular toward the core, melting, tender, buttery, very juicy, sweet and vinous, aromatic; quality very good to best. The three sources describe flesh color differently — white (Downing), yellowish white (Herefordshire), and strongly yellow-tinged (Hedrick). All three agree on the melting, buttery, very juicy character and the high aromatic quality.
Core and seeds: Core small (Downing). Hedrick: core closed, with clasping core-lines; calyx-tube short, wide, conical; seeds large, wide, long, rather plump, acute, often abortive.
Season
Ripe in late October and November (Hedrick, Downing). The Herefordshire Pomona extends the usable season to the middle of December, noting that it is prolonged if the fruit is gathered at intervals before it is fully ripe and handled very gently.
Uses
Primarily a dessert pear of the highest quality. Suited to the home orchard and to the collection of the pear-fancier; a valuable commercial variety on the Pacific slope (Hedrick). The Herefordshire Pomona notes that the specimen illustrated was grown on a cordon tree against a wall at Holme Lacy, and was larger than fruit grown on a pyramid. The season can be usefully extended through careful staged harvesting before full ripeness (Herefordshire Pomona).
Subtypes/Variants
Not described in source.
Book Sources
Described in 3 period pomological works
Nursery Catalog Sources
Found in 51 catalogs (1884–1947) from California, England, Missouri, Oregon, Washington
- Felix Gillet , Barren Hill Nursery, Nevada City , California — 1884
- Fancher Creek Nursery , Fresno , California — 1886
- Felix Gillet , Barren Hill Nursery, Nevada City , California — 1888
- Felix Gillet , Barren Hill Nursery, Nevada City , California — 1889
- Felix Gillet , Barren Hill Nursery, Nevada City , California — 1890
- Felix Gillet , Barren Hill Nursery, Nevada City , California — 1891
- Milwaukie-Canby Nurseries , Canby, OR (and Milwaukie, OR) — 1893
- Multnomah Nurseries , Russellville , Oregon — 1894
- Woodburn Nurseries , Woodburn, Marion Co. , Oregon — 1894
- Felix Gillet , Barren Hill Nursery, Nevada City , California — 1895
- Felix Gillet , Barren Hill Nursery, Nevada City , California — 1897
- Kelway & Son , Langport, Somerset , England — 1897
- George Bunyard & Co. , Royal Nurseries, Maidstone, Kent , England — 1900
- Washington Nursery Co. , Toppenish , Washington — 1901
- Forestville Nurseries , T.J. True, Forestville , California — 1902
- The Dalles Nurseries , The Dalles , Oregon — 1906
- Stark Bros. Nurseries & Orchards Co. , Louisiana , Missouri — 1906
- J.B. Pilkington , Portland , Oregon — 1907
- Russellville Nursery Co. , Montavilla Station, Portland, OR (three miles east of Portland, one mile from Montavilla car line) — 1907
- Carlton Nursery Co. , Carlton , Oregon — 1909
- Milton Nursery Co. (A. Miller & Sons , Proprietors), Milton , Oregon — 1909
- Washington Nursery Company , Toppenish , Washington — 1909
- C.F. Lansing , Salem , Oregon — 1910
- A. Holaday , Monte Vista Nursery, Scappoose , Oregon — 1910
- Quaker Nurseries (Patterson/Lansing) — 1910
- Stark Bros. Nurseries & Orchards Co. , Louisiana , Missouri — 1910
- Island Nurseries & Fruit Farm , Vashon (Vashon Island) , Washington — 1910
- Stark Bros. Nurseries & Orchards Co. , Louisiana , Missouri — 1911
- Island Nurseries & Fruit Farm , Vashon (Vashon Island) , Washington — 1911
- James Veitch & Sons , Ltd., Royal Exotic Nursery, Chelsea, London (also Coombe Wood, Langley, and Feltham) , England — 1911
- Stark Bros. Nurseries & Orchards Co. , Louisiana , Missouri — 1912
- Ballygreen Nurseries , Hanford , Washington — 1912
- Pacific Nursery Company , Portland , Oregon — 1912
- Washington Nursery Company , Toppenish , Washington — 1912
- J. B. Pilkington , Nurseryman, Portland, OR (nurseries near Newberg, forty miles from Portland) — 1913
- Van Holderbeke Nursery Co. , Incorporated, Spokane, Washington (nurseries at Otis Orchards WA, Pasadena WA, Kennewick WA) — 1913
- Thomas Rivers & Son , Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire , England — 1913
- Island Nurseries & Fruit Farm , Vashon (Vashon Island) , Washington — 1914
- George Bunyard & Co. , Royal Nurseries, Maidstone, Kent , England — 1914
- Ornamental & Fruit Nursery Company , Wapato, County of Yakima , Washington — 1915
- Union Nurseries , J.B. Weaver & Sons, Union , Oregon — 1915
- George Bunyard & Co. , Royal Nurseries, Maidstone, Kent , England — 1917
- Fancher Creek Nurseries , George C. Roeding, Fresno , California — 1918
- Oregon Nursery Co. , Orenco , Oregon — 1920
- Benedict Nursery Co. , Portland , Oregon — 1921
- Island Nurseries & Fruit Farm , Vashon , Washington — 1921
- Columbia & Okanogan Nursery Co. , Wenatchee , Washington — 1925
- OSU Bulletin 216 — 1925
- Hudson's Wholesale Nurseries , Tangent , Oregon — 1926
- Milton Nursery Co. , Milton-Freewater , Oregon — 1947
- Rich & Sons Nursery , Hillsboro , Oregon
View original book sources (3)
— Woolhope Naturalists Field Club, The Herefordshire Pomona (1885)
- DOYENNE DU COMICE.
[Syn : Comice.]
This valuable pear was raised in the garden of the Comice Horticole, at Angers, and the original tree first bore fruit in 1849.
Description.—Fruit, large, three inches wide, and three inches and a half high ; pyramidal or obovate, sometimes rather uneven in its outline. Skin, lemon yellow, with a greenish tinge, considerably covered with speckles and patches of pale brown russet, and particularly so round the eye and the stalk. Eye, small and open, with short pointed segments, set in a considerable depression. Stalk, half an inch to an inch long, fleshy at the base ; sometimes curved, and inserted in a round narrow cavity ; sometimes very short and stout, and obliquely inserted almost at right angles with the fruit. Flesh, yellowish white, very tender, buttery and melting, very juicy, rich, sweet, and delicately perfumed, with a sort of cinnamon flavour.
A most delicious pear, in season from the end of October to the middle of December. Its season is prolonged if it is gathered at intervals before it is ripe, and handled very gently.
The tree grows well, and bears pretty freely. It forms handsome pyramids on the quince. In this form it can be a little protected when in bloom, and its merits richly deserve it.
The specimen represented on the plate was grown on a cordon tree against the wall at Holme Lacy, and is larger than if it had been grown on a pyramid.
— A.J. Downing, The Fruits and Fruit Trees of America (1900)Doyenne du Comice.
A French Pear, of comparatively recent introduction, which promises to be of much value. Tree moderately vigorous, upright. Young wood rich warm reddish yellow brown.
Fruit large, varying, roundish pyriform or broad obtuse pyriform, sometimes obtuse. Skin greenish yellow, becoming fine yellow at maturity, often lightly shaded with crimson and fawn in the sun, slight nettings and patches of russet, and thickly sprinkled with russet dots. Stalk short, stout, inclined and set in a shallow cavity, often russeted. Calyx small, open. Basin large, deep, and uneven. Flesh white, fine, melting, a little buttery, juicy, sweet, rich, slightly aromatic. Very good or best. Core small. October, November.
— U.P. Hedrick, The Pears of New York (1921)DOYENNÉ DU COMICE
- Mag. Hort. 18:168, fig. 16. 1852. 2. Ann. Pom. Belge 8:47, Pl. 1860. 3. Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt. 68. 1862. 4. Pom. France 2: No. 58, Pl. 58. 1864. 5. Mas Le Verger 3: Pt. 1, 7, fig. 2. 1866-73. 6. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 744, fig. 1869. 7. Jour. Hort. N. S. 17:440, fig. 1869. 8. Leroy Dict. Pom. 2:60, fig. 1869. 9. Hogg Fruit Man. 565. 1884. 10. Rev. Hort. 447, Pl. 1908.
Beurré Robert. 11. Leroy Dict. Pom. 1:418, fig. 1867. 12. Ibid. 2:775. 1869. Comice. 13. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. 36. 1883. Vereins Dechantsbirne. 14. Mathieu Nom. Pom. 293. 1889. 15. Gaucher Pom. Prak. Obst. No. 68, Pl. 36. 1894. 16. Deut. Obstsorten 5: Pt. 14, Pl. 1909.
This pear has been esteemed long and justly for the beauty and high quality of its fruits. If its tree-characters were better the variety would take high place in commercial orcharding as well as for the home orchard, to which it is now almost wholly confined. The fruits are very large, smooth except for russet markings, clear handsome yellow at maturity, sometimes brightened by a delicate blush, with yellow, fine-grained flesh which is tender, melting, very juicy, sweet, piquant, perfumed. The quality is so good that the fruits of this variety are called by many the best of all pears. The list of faults for the trees is as long as the list of merits for the fruits. The young trees make a poor growth in the nursery; young or old, the trees must be humored in soil, climate, and care; they are subject to blight; while usually productive, they are not always so even where vigorous, healthy, and hardy; lastly, they are a little below the average in hardihood to cold. The variety is seldom at home in New York, but where it thrives, as on the Pacific slope, it is a valuable commercial pear, and is always worthy a place in the home orchard or in the collection of the pear-fancier. In Europe, it is reported as doing especially well on the quince.
The parent tree of Doyenné du Comice was taken from the first seed bed made in the fruit-garden of the Comice Horticole, Angers, Department of Maine-et-Loire, France. In November, 1849, it produced its first fruit, which was at once so highly esteemed that it was named Doyenné du Comice. It was placed on the market with unusual promptitude and rapidly distributed in foreign lands, reaching America about 1850. The variety was recommended for general cultivation by the American Pomological Society in 1862.
Tree vigorous, characteristically upright, dense, usually productive; branches smooth, dull gray mingled with greenish-brown, marked with large lenticels; branchlets long, brown tinged with red, glabrous, with many small, slightly raised, conspicuous lenticels.
Leaf-buds large, medium to long, conical, pointed, nearly free; leaf-scars prominent. Leaves 3½ in. long, 1½ in. wide, oval, leathery; margin finely serrate; petiole ¾ in. long.
Flower-buds short, conical, free; blossoms open late; flowers 1½ in. across, in dense clusters, about 8 buds in a cluster; pedicels ¾ in. long, slender, pubescent, light green.
Fruit ripe in late October and November; large, 3 in. long, 2½ in. wide, obovate-obtuse-pyriform or roundish, with unequal sides; stem 1½ in. long, very thick, usually curved; cavity obtuse, shallow, narrow, russeted and wrinkled, often with a fleshy ring around the base of the stem; calyx open; lobes separated at the base, long, narrow, acuminate; basin medium to wide, obtuse, often furrowed; skin tough and granular, smooth except for the russet markings, dull; color clear yellow, often with a very faint russet-red blush on the exposed cheek, the surface heavily covered with large patches and nettings of attractive russet; dots many, very small, dark brown, obscure; flesh tinged strongly with yellow, fine-grained near the outside but granular toward the core, melting, tender, buttery, very juicy, sweet and vinous, aromatic; quality very good to best. Core closed, with clasping core-lines; calyx-tube short, wide, conical; seeds large, wide, long, rather plump, acute, often abortive.