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Echasserie

Pear

Echasserie

Origin/History

Echasserie is a French pear, native to Anjou, where three places bear the name given to it. The wilding from which this variety was derived was probably noticed about 1660, and La Quintinye, before 1690, spoke of it as having been in French gardens for twenty years. It had probably been locally cultivated under other names for a long time previous to its official recognition. It was described by Duhamel in Traité des Arbres Fruitiers (1768) and by Leroy in Dictionnaire de Pomologie (1867).

Tree

Coxe (1817) describes the tree as very handsome and fruitful, and an early bearer. Downing (1900) calls it productive. Elliott (1865), in contrast, characterizes it as a "poor grower."

Bark, twigs, lenticels, buds, and leaves: Not described in source.

Fruit

Size

Medium, according to Coxe, Downing, Elliott, and Thomas. Hedrick describes it as medium to small.

Form

Oval to roundish-oval, globular-oval but variable (Hedrick), always obtuse and bossed (Hedrick). Coxe specifies the form is diminished towards the stalk, with the blossom end very round.

Stem

Coxe describes the stalk as large. Otherwise not described in source.

Cavity

Not described in source.

Calyx

Open (Elliott).

Basin

Coxe states the eye is not sunk.

Skin

Coxe: light yellow, inclining to white. Downing: smooth, pale green, yellowish at maturity, slightly dotted with gray. Elliott: pale green, yellowish, dotted with gray when ripe. Thomas: greenish-yellow. Hedrick: rough to the touch, lemon-yellow dotted with fawn and with some patches of grayish-brown russet.

Flesh/Flavor

Flesh melting, buttery, and fine (Coxe); melting, buttery, with a sweet perfumed flavor (Downing); melting, buttery, sweet (Elliott, Thomas). Hedrick: flesh white, fine, melting, with very small grits around the core; juice extremely abundant, acidulous, saccharine, with an aftertaste of musk, very agreeable. Coxe: the juice sweet, musky and very pleasant.

Quality rated "good" by Elliott; "first" by Hedrick; "second quality" by Downing; "excellent pear" by Coxe.

Core/Seeds

Very small grits around the core (Hedrick). Otherwise not described in source.

Season

Coxe: November to February. Downing: January to April. Elliott: November and December. Hedrick: November through January. Thomas: Winter.

Uses

Dessert pear (implied by descriptions of flavor and quality); specific culinary uses not described in source.

Subtypes/Variants

Not described in source.

Other

Not described in source.

Book Sources

Described in 5 period pomological works

View original book sources (5)
  1. L'ECHASSERIE.

This pear is of the medium size, an oval form, diminished towards the stalk, the blossom end very round, the eye not sunk, the stalk is large : the flesh is melting, buttery and fine, the juice sweet, musky and very pleasant—the skin is of a light yellow, inclining to white ; its maturity is from November, to February, and it is an excellent pear : the tree is very handsome and fruitful, and is an early bearer.

— William Coxe, A View of the Cultivation of Fruit Trees (1817)

ECHASSERIE.

Bezi d'Echassey. Bezi l'Echasserie. Jagdbirne. Bezi de Chasseray. L'Echasserie. Verte Longue d'Hiver. Besidery. Sandry. Echassery. Winter Long Green. Winter Green Long. Landry. Wilding.

A French Pear of second quality, productive. Fruit of medium size, roundish oval. Skin smooth, pale green, yellowish at maturity, slightly dotted with gray. Flesh melting, buttery, with a sweet perfumed flavor. January to April.

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

Echasserie.

  1. Duhamel Trait. Arb. Fr. 2:187, Pl. XXXII. 1768. 2. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 753. 1869. Walnut. 3. Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt. 90. 1856. Besi de l'Echasserie. 4. Leroy Dict. Pom. 1:269, fig. 1867.

The wilding from which this variety was derived was probably noticed about 1660 and La Quintinye before 1690 spoke of it as having been in French gardens for twenty years. It appears to have been a native of Anjou, where there are three places bearing the name given to it. Probably it had been locally cultivated under other names for a long time previous to its official recognition.

Fruit medium to small, globular-oval but variable, always obtuse and bossed; skin rough to the touch, lemon-yellow dotted with fawn and with some patches of grayish-brown russet; flesh white, fine, melting, with very small grits around the core; juice extremely abundant, acidulous, saccharine, with an aftertaste of musk, very agreeable; first; Nov. through Jan.

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

ECHASSERY.

Echasserie, Bezi d'Echassie, Bezi de Chasserie, Jagdbirne.

Foreign. Poor grower. Fruit, medium, roundish oval, pale green, yellowish, dotted with gray when ripe; calyx, open; flesh, melting, buttery, sweet; "good." November and December.

— F.R. Elliott, The Western Fruit Book (1865)

Echassery. Medium, roundish-oval, greenish-yellow; melting, buttery, sweet. Winter. French.

— John J. Thomas, The American Fruit Culturist (1903)
Besi L'Echasserie Besi Landrin Besi d'Heri-Landry Besi de Heric (Loiseleur) Besi de Landry Besi de l'Echasserie Besi des Chasseries Besi du Chasserie Besideri Besidery Besidery-Landry Besidery-Laudry Bezi d'Echasserie Bezi d'Echassey Bezi d'Echassie Bezi de Chasseray Bezi de Chasserie Bezi de Chassery Bezi l'Echasserie Bezy de Villandry Chasse (P. de) Chassery Chasseurs (P. des) Echassery Epine Longue d'Hiver Henne Jagdbirne Jagt Peer Jägerbirne L'Echasserie Landry Landry Wilding Lescharie Muscat d'Echassery Muscat de Villandry Muscat de l'Echasserie Sandry Sportsman Verte Longue d'Hiver Villandry Walnut Wilding Wildling von Chassery Winter Beste B Winter Eier B Winter Green Long Winter Long Green Winter Long Green Pear Winter Verte-Longue Pear Henri Bivort Huguenot Lange Grüne Winterbirne L'Orange d'Hyver Poire des Chasseurs