Glou Morceau

Glou Morceau

Origin/History

An old Flemish winter pear raised from seed about 1750 by the Abbé of Mons, M. Hardenpont — a pioneer in pear-raising and a worthy forerunner of Van Mons — in his garden at Mons, Belgium. Downing identifies the originator as M. d'Ardenpont, canon of Tournay, which refers to the same individual under a variant spelling of the name.

The variety was introduced into France in 1806 by Louis Noisette, who had found it in the gardens of the Duc d'Arenberg. In France it became known as Beurré d'Arenberg, creating considerable confusion with the true Beurré d'Arenberg raised by Monseigneur Deschamps. To resolve this, a number of prominent Frenchmen changed the name to Beurré d'Hardenpont, though the variety has always been grown under both names in France. In 1820, M. Parmentier of Enghien, Belgium, sent the pear to England under the name Glou Morceau — "glou" being a Walloon word meaning delicious or dainty, and "morceau" the French for morsel or bit, yielding the translation Delicious Morsel or Dainty Bit. Glou Morceau was brought to America within a few years of its introduction in England and rapidly found favor with leading American pomologists. In 1862 the American Pomological Society added the variety to its catalog-list under the name Glou Morceau, under which it has since remained.

By Hedrick's time (1921) the variety was nearly lost to cultivation, though he considered it worth growing for the high quality of its fruit and for the value of a rich pear coming in season in early winter when few others are available.

Tree

Medium in size and vigor, spreading, dense-topped, and rapid-growing; usually productive. Trunk stocky. Branches thick, reddish-brown, nearly covered with gray scarf-skin, marked with numerous large lenticels. Branchlets slender, short, light greenish-brown, overspread with gray scarf-skin, smooth, glabrous, with numerous, small, conspicuous, raised lenticels. Downing describes the shoots as dark olive in color. The habit of the tree is spreading.

Leaf-buds small, very short, pointed, plump, appressed. Leaves 2½ in. long, 1½ in. wide, thick, leathery; apex taper-pointed; margin occasionally with very few, small glands, coarsely or finely serrate; petiole 2 in. long, thick, glabrous, greenish. Flower-buds small, short, conical, plump, free, borne singly on very short spurs; flowers late, showy, 1½ in. across, in dense clusters of 8 to 11 buds; pedicels ⅝ in. long, pubescent.

All authorities agree that quality is better in fruit from dwarf trees, in which form the variety grows very well.

Fruit

Size and Form: Large; Hedrick gives dimensions of 3½ in. long, 2½ in. wide. Shape obovate-obtuse-pyriform, irregular, sides unequal, somewhat ribbed. Downing describes the form as varying but usually obovate ovate obtuse pyriform.

Stem: Hedrick gives the stem as ¾ in. long, thick and woody, curved. Downing describes it as rather slender and straight, an inch or more long. The two sources differ on both length and character of the stem.

Cavity: Downing describes a small, regular cavity. Hedrick describes the cavity as deep, narrow, russeted, deeply furrowed, compressed, and lipped — differing substantially from Downing's account.

Calyx: Open; lobes long, narrow, acute (Hedrick). Downing gives calyx usually with open divisions.

Basin: Hedrick gives the basin as deep, smooth, and broadly furrowed. Downing describes a moderately deep basin.

Skin: Hedrick describes the skin as tender, very gritty, dull, and roughened by russet; color pale greenish-yellow, covered with large and small patches and mottlings of light russet; dots numerous, small, conspicuous, light russet. Downing describes the skin as smooth and thin, pale greenish yellow, marked with small green dots, and sometimes with thin patches of greenish brown. The two accounts conflict on surface texture — Hedrick finding the skin gritty and russeted, Downing finding it smooth and thin — and on the color of the dots, Downing describing them as green and Hedrick as light russet. Hedrick notes that the fruits are not attractively colored, though acknowledges the illustration does not do the fruit full justice.

Flesh and Flavor: Hedrick: flesh tinged with yellow, fine-grained except near the core and under the skin, tender, buttery, sweet, with a rich, pleasant, aromatic flavor; astringent near the skin. Downing: flesh white, fine-grained and smooth in texture, buttery, very melting, with a rich, sugary flavor, with no admixture of acid. The two sources differ on flesh color (Hedrick: tinged with yellow; Downing: white) and on the presence of acidity (Downing explicitly states no admixture of acid; Hedrick describes the fruit as rich and sugary without the least trace of acid but notes astringency near the skin). Both sources agree on the buttery, fine-grained, sweet, rich character. Quality rated good to very good by both.

Astringency and Soil: Hedrick states that when poorly grown the fruit is often astringent, and that quality is better on heavy soils than on light ones. Downing states the fruit is sometimes astringent in heavy soils — the reverse relationship. The two sources are in direct conflict on the effect of heavy soil on astringency.

Core and Seeds: Core closed, axile, with clasping core-lines; calyx-tube short, broad, conical; seeds large, wide, long, plump, acute (Hedrick). Not described in Downing.

Season

Matures November to December (Hedrick). Downing gives December. The variety comes in season in early winter when few other pears are available.

Uses

Dessert pear of high quality. The fruits keep and ship remarkably well (Hedrick). The crop does not always ripen well in some localities, which has put the variety in disrepute in certain areas (Hedrick).

Subtypes/Variants

Not described in source.

Other

Hedrick notes that all authorities agree quality is superior in fruit from dwarf trees, and that the trees, though neither very large nor vigorous, are usually productive. The pears' unattractive coloring has worked against the variety's commercial standing despite its flavor merits.