[Rusty Hinge[_2_]]

In a Norwich soliitor's car park I saw a tree - bushy/small tree growth,
about eight feet high (At present), with long (entire) leaves which
resemble olive leaves in their pubescent pastel effect, though they were
slightly narrower than the olive's.

The fruit is a small pear - around the size of a crab apple, almost
spherical with only a little tapering into the stalk.

Sort of medlar? I asked myself. Nope. The calyx was much too small.
No-one in the office knew, so I took a few pears home.

They retted like a medlar rather than ripened, and the pips had a
quincey look to them. The flesh was pleasantly flavoured (when retted),
but it was littered with gritty nodules which suggested that the tree
was never much use for its fruit.

Anyone any idea what it might be?

--
Rusty

[Stewart Robert Hinsley]

In message , Rusty Hinge
writes
In a Norwich soliitor's car park I saw a tree - bushy/small tree
growth, about eight feet high (At present), with long (entire) leaves
which resemble olive leaves in their pubescent pastel effect, though
they were slightly narrower than the olive's.

The fruit is a small pear - around the size of a crab apple, almost
spherical with only a little tapering into the stalk.

Sort of medlar? I asked myself. Nope. The calyx was much too small.
No-one in the office knew, so I took a few pears home.

They retted like a medlar rather than ripened, and the pips had a
quincey look to them. The flesh was pleasantly flavoured (when retted),
but it was littered with gritty nodules which suggested that the tree
was never much use for its fruit.

Anyone any idea what it might be?

Do you know Pyrus salicifolia?

Size and foliage does seem to match Elaeagnus angustifolia, as mentioned
elsethread, but if I've put the right name to the right plant the fruits
of this are smaller, not pyriform, and not a pome.
--
Stewart Robert Hinsley

[Janet Tweedy]

In article ,
Janet writes
failing that take a look through

http://www.whispering-trees.co.uk/tr...=1110578905355
&sectionID=59

Janet

Not the willow-leafed pear by any chance? The fruit and leaves sound
very similar and they can get quite big.

--
Janet Tweedy
Dalmatian Telegraph
http://www.lancedal.demon.co.uk

[echinosum]

Originally Posted by Rusty Hinge[_2_]

In a Norwich soliitor's car park I saw a tree - bushy/small tree growth,
about eight feet high (At present), with long (entire) leaves which
resemble olive leaves in their pubescent pastel effect, though they were
slightly narrower than the olive's.

The fruit is a small pear - around the size of a crab apple, almost
spherical with only a little tapering into the stalk.

Sort of medlar? I asked myself. Nope. The calyx was much too small.
No-one in the office knew, so I took a few pears home.

They retted like a medlar rather than ripened, and the pips had a
quincey look to them. The flesh was pleasantly flavoured (when retted),
but it was littered with gritty nodules which suggested that the tree
was never much use for its fruit.

Anyone any idea what it might be?

Among wild pears with narrow leaves, there's Pyrus salicifolia, the willow-leafed pear and Pyrus eleagnifolia, the oleaster-leafed pear. Either of those possible?

Eleagnus seems unlikely, the ones I know have a berry with a large stone like an olive, hence names like Russian olive. Persimmon seems unlikely, as they have broad leaves, and one is unlikely I think to describe a persimmon fruit as a pear. One might describe the fruit of Pseudocydonia (Chinese quince) like that, but the rest doesn't hold together.

I saw medlars for sale in a greengrocers on Saturday, first time ever. It was in Glastonbury, one sees all sorts of strange things for sale there.

[Rusty Hinge[_2_]]

Sacha wrote:
On 2010-10-25 11:56:10 +0100, Rusty Hinge
said:

In a Norwich soliitor's car park I saw a tree - bushy/small tree
growth, about eight feet high (At present), with long (entire) leaves
which resemble olive leaves in their pubescent pastel effect, though
they were slightly narrower than the olive's.

The fruit is a small pear - around the size of a crab apple, almost
spherical with only a little tapering into the stalk.

Sort of medlar? I asked myself. Nope. The calyx was much too small.
No-one in the office knew, so I took a few pears home.

They retted like a medlar rather than ripened, and the pips had a
quincey look to them. The flesh was pleasantly flavoured (when
retted), but it was littered with gritty nodules which suggested that
the tree was never much use for its fruit.

Anyone any idea what it might be?

Persimmon - long shot?!

Very long shot, no.

This is a pear, a small, hard pear. A very hard small pear, but with
rather unpearlike leaves.

--
Rusty

[Rusty Hinge[_2_]]

Janet wrote:
In article ,
says...
In a Norwich soliitor's car park I saw a tree - bushy/small tree growth,
about eight feet high (At present), with long (entire) leaves which
resemble olive leaves in their pubescent pastel effect, though they were
slightly narrower than the olive's.

The fruit is a small pear - around the size of a crab apple, almost
spherical with only a little tapering into the stalk.

Sort of medlar? I asked myself. Nope. The calyx was much too small.
No-one in the office knew, so I took a few pears home.

They retted like a medlar rather than ripened, and the pips had a
quincey look to them. The flesh was pleasantly flavoured (when retted),
but it was littered with gritty nodules which suggested that the tree
was never much use for its fruit.

Anyone any idea what it might be?

Are you sure it's not eleagnus angustifolia, which is a common small
landscaping tree and has edible fruit (not this far north,
unfortunately)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elaeagnus_angustifolia

Wrong sort of fruit - Eleagnus has a drupe - this has a pear, with a
core, with pip-shaped pips, and grity pearlike flesh, pearlike skin, but
unpearlike leaves.

failing that take a look through

http://www.whispering-trees.co.uk/tr...5&sectionID=59

Ah! Thanks - that looks a lot more promising. And the nursery's in
Norfolk, as is the tree...

--
Rusty

[Rusty Hinge[_2_]]

Janet Tweedy wrote:
In article ,
Janet writes
failing that take a look through

http://www.whispering-trees.co.uk/tr...=1110578905355
&sectionID=59

Janet

Not the willow-leafed pear by any chance? The fruit and leaves sound
very similar and they can get quite big.

Could be. Lots of gushing on www but little real light - well, not on
the sites I've managed to look at.

Why do so many of them want to set half a dozen cookies? (All denied
except the site's own, and even this is discarded as soon as Fried Fox
closes.)

--
Rusty

[Rusty Hinge[_2_]]

Stewart Robert Hinsley wrote:

Do you know Pyrus salicifolia?

Well, I didn't...

Size and foliage does seem to match Elaeagnus angustifolia, as mentioned
elsethread, but if I've put the right name to the right plant the fruits
of this are smaller, not pyriform, and not a pome.

Well, if you'd put the fuit in my hand I would have said it was a pear,
and cut up, I'd still have said it was a pear, only more emphatically -
while it doesn't have the beak of (say) a Williams or Conference, it
does have a slight tapering towards the stalk.

In shape the fruit's not unlike the pears of a tree we had in another
life, though much smaller - the tree was normal sized for a standard
pear, the pears were a normal size, but they were of case-hardened
superconcrete construction, and having once bent their bills, even the
fieldfares and redwings left them alone.

The pears didn't soften during stewing overnight in the bottom oven of
the Aga, and often survived the winter under the tree where they lay,
and even when brown all the way through they were far too dangerous for
us (kids) to use as ammunition.²¹³

Very pretty large flowers and the tree was a glory for a rather short
time each year. It was probably a pollinator - we had several other pears.

²¹³ as we did with (say) rotten codlings and conference pears, which
explode on impact in a most satisfying fashion.

--
Rusty

[Rusty Hinge[_2_]]

Sacha wrote:
On 2010-10-25 17:19:26 +0100, Rusty Hinge
said:

Sacha wrote:
On 2010-10-25 11:56:10 +0100, Rusty Hinge
said:

In a Norwich soliitor's car park I saw a tree - bushy/small tree
growth, about eight feet high (At present), with long (entire)
leaves which resemble olive leaves in their pubescent pastel effect,
though they were slightly narrower than the olive's.

The fruit is a small pear - around the size of a crab apple, almost
spherical with only a little tapering into the stalk.

Sort of medlar? I asked myself. Nope. The calyx was much too small.
No-one in the office knew, so I took a few pears home.

They retted like a medlar rather than ripened, and the pips had a
quincey look to them. The flesh was pleasantly flavoured (when
retted), but it was littered with gritty nodules which suggested
that the tree was never much use for its fruit.

Anyone any idea what it might be?

Persimmon - long shot?!

Very long shot, no.

This is a pear, a small, hard pear. A very hard small pear, but with
rather unpearlike leaves.

I, too, thought of Pyrus salicifolia but having never tried its fruit, I
looked that up and it's said to be astringent and bitter, which doesn't
sound like your experience. But reading your description and looking at
some pics, it does seem the most likely. Maybe the bletting is the
secret to the flavour.
http://www.habitas.org.uk/gardenflor...alicifolia.htm

Tree looks right, but the fruit on the one in Naaardge is much rounder -
almost spherical and only just pointed at the stalk-end.

--
Rusty

[Rusty Hinge[_2_]]

Assuming I unearth my camera tonight I'll take some pics tomorrow -
assuming I go into 'The City'.

--
Rusty

[Rusty Hinge[_2_]]

echinosum wrote:

I saw medlars for sale in a greengrocers on Saturday, first time ever.
It was in Glastonbury, one sees all sorts of strange things for sale
there.

There was a medlar in a local garden, and I intended to beg a cutting or
two.

Last time I looked, it was horridly dead...

--
Rusty

[Janet Tweedy]

In article , Rusty Hinge
writes
Could be. Lots of gushing on www but little real light - well, not on
the sites I've managed to look at.


What about this close up of a leaf?
http://www.carolscornwall.com/Plants...i/Tree-Pyrus%2
0salicifolia03-07-09.jpg
--
Janet Tweedy
Dalmatian Telegraph
http://www.lancedal.demon.co.uk

[someone]

"Rusty Hinge" wrote in message
...
In a Norwich soliitor's car park I saw a tree - bushy/small tree growth,
about eight feet high (At present), with long (entire) leaves which
resemble olive leaves in their pubescent pastel effect, though they were
slightly narrower than the olive's.

The fruit is a small pear - around the size of a crab apple, almost
spherical with only a little tapering into the stalk.

Sort of medlar? I asked myself. Nope. The calyx was much too small. No-one
in the office knew, so I took a few pears home.

They retted like a medlar rather than ripened, and the pips had a quincey
look to them. The flesh was pleasantly flavoured (when retted), but it was
littered with gritty nodules which suggested that the tree was never much
use for its fruit.

Anyone any idea what it might be?


Our local cider group has been making cider and perry this past couple of
months, and one of the pears we have been using is a small inedible perry
pear called Blush, found in an orchard on an old farm. The pear is quite
small and round, and we've managed to get about 35 gallons of perry juice
which is on the ferment now. We have been scratting and pressing with local
apples, too, and have over 150 gallons of cider on the go.

Here are some pictures of pears, including one of Blush, as well as an image
of wild pears. Maybe one of them will match your pear.

http://international.stockfood.com/r...lstformats=019

someone