Gratiola
Pear[NOTE: Source material is historical reference only, with minimal identifying details. The provided excerpt contains no physical descriptions of fruit or tree characteristics.]
Origin and History
Gratiola is documented as a type of Bon Chrétien pear in Parkinson's Paradisus Terrestris (1629). Historically known as the Cucumber pear or Spinola's pear, indicating cultivation or association with the Spinola family or region.
Classification
A variant or strain of the Bon Chrétien group (Butter pear type).
Editorial Note: The Hedrick citation provides only a genealogical classification and alternate names, without descriptive details. To complete an identification guide entry for Gratiola, additional sources documenting its fruit size, form, color, flavor profile, tree growth habit, and season would be needed. The alternate names "Cucumber pear" and "Spinola's pear" may indicate either the fruit's shape/appearance or its geographic origin, but the source does not clarify.
Book Sources
Described in 1 period pomological work
View original book sources (1)
— U.P. Hedrick, The Pears of New York (1921)Gratiola.
- Parkinson Par. Ter. 592. 1629.
"The Gratiola peare is a kinde of Bon Cretien, called the Cucumber peare, or Spinola's peare."