Grise-Bonne
Pear
Grise-Bonne
Origin/History
The antiquity of Grise-Bonne has been a subject of considerable debate among pomologists. The Dutch pomologist Pierre Van den Hoven, writing in the middle of the eighteenth century, affirmed that Grise-Bonne was identical with the Sucrée Grise de Hollandaise and with the Pirum Falernum of the Romans. This claim was contested both before and after: in 1586 Jacques Daléchamp believed he had found the Falernum in the French Autumn Bergamote; in 1783 Henri Manger declared it to be still cultivated under the name Bourdon, the Orange Musquée; and Sickler wrote in 1802 that the Bergamote d'été appeared to him to be the Falernum. The variety appears in Duhamel's Traité des Arbres Fruitiers (1778) and in Leroy's Dictionnaire de Pomologie (1869), as well as in Dochnahl's Führer durch die Obstkunde (1856), where it is listed under the German name Franzosische Gute Graue Sommerbirne.
Tree
Not described in source.
Fruit
Size: Coxe (1817) and Elliott (1865) describe the fruit as small. Hedrick (1921) describes it as medium.
Form: Coxe describes the form as regular, diminishing with a gentle swell toward the stem. Elliott characterizes it as pyriform. Hedrick notes that the form is variable: sometimes irregular-turbinate, long and ventriculous; at other times regular-turbinate.
Stem: Long (Coxe).
Cavity: Not described in source.
Calyx/Basin: The blossom end is rather flat, with no hollow at the crown (Coxe).
Skin: Coxe describes the skin as green, dotted with black spots. Hedrick describes the skin as clear green, russeted with gray, clouded with pale yellow on the shaded side, and covered with large dots of golden or orange-yellow. Elliott notes simply green. The color of the surface dots is in conflict: Coxe records black spots; Hedrick records golden or orange-yellow dots.
Flesh and Flavor: Coxe describes the flesh as large grained and juicy, of a pleasant taste. Hedrick gives a fuller account: flesh white, fine, dense, semi-breaking, watery, free from grit; juice very abundant, sugary, acidulous, musky. Hedrick assigns a quality rating of second.
Core/Seeds: Not described in source.
Season
Ripens from the beginning to the middle of August (Coxe). Middle of August (Elliott). August (Hedrick).
Uses
Not described in source.
Subtypes/Variants
Not described in source.
Book Sources
Described in 3 period pomological works
- Coxe, A View of the Cultivation of Fruit Trees (1817) — listed as Grise-Bonne, Or Good Grey Pear
- Elliott, The Western Fruit Book (1865) — listed as Grise Bonne
- Hedrick, The Pears of New York (1921)
View original book sources (3)
— William Coxe, A View of the Cultivation of Fruit Trees (1817)
- GRISE-BONNE, OR GOOD GREY PEAR.
This is rather a small pear, the form regular, diminishing with a gentle swell towards the stem, which is long; the blossom end rather flat, with no hollow at the crown; the skin green, dotted with black spots—the flesh large grained and juicy, of a pleasant taste—ripens from the beginning to the middle of August.
[Additional entry in this volume: "Grise Bonne", pp. 277–277]
No. 17. Grise Bonne
— F.R. Elliott, The Western Fruit Book (1865)Grise Bonne. Small, pyriform, green. Middle August.
— U.P. Hedrick, The Pears of New York (1921)Grise-Bonne.
- Duhamel Trait. Arb. Fr. 2:245. 1778.
- Leroy Diet. Pom. 2:238, fig. 1869. Franzosische Gute Graue Sommerbirne.
- Dochnahl Fuhr. Obstkunde 2:16. 1856.
The Dutch pomologist Pierre Van den Hoven writing in the middle of the eighteenth century affirmed that the Grise-Bonne was the Sucrée Grise de Hollandaise and the Pirum Falernum of the Romans. It may be noted that in 1586 Jacques Daléchamp thought he had found the Falernum in the French Autumn Bergamote; and, again, in 1783 Henri Manger declared it to be still cultivated under the name Bourdon, the Orange Musquee; similarly Sickler wrote in 1802 that the Bergamote d'été appeared to him to be the Falernum.
Fruit medium; form variable, sometimes irregular-turbinate, long and ventriculous, at other times regular-turbinate, clear green, russeted with gray, clouded with pale yellow on the shaded side and covered with large dots of golden or orange-yellow; flesh white, fine, dense, semi-breaking, watery, free from grit; juice very abundant, sugary, acidulous, musky; second; Aug.