Does anyone know of a red flowered pear?
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None of mine are completely red. Many are pink or partially red eg. Harrow sweet has a lot of stripes of red in the blooms.
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I inquired from the curators of the pear repository in Corvalis with this result.
“There are no Pyrus accessions at the USDA genebank with red or pink flowers. Several red fruited European pear sports, such as Red Anjou and some of the Red Bartlett strains have very slight red pigments in the flower petals. Many Pyrus pyrifolia cultivars have some reddish color when they first leaf out in the spring. The color is more in the foliage than in the flowers however. The species Pyrus dimorphophylla looks from a distance like a pink flowering pear when in bloom, but closer examination shows the red color to be in the sepals, not in the petals. I have suggested this species in general to be a promising ornamental, and flagged several accessions as such. However, this species is closely related to Pyrus calleryana which has been designated as a noxious weed in several mid-Atlantic states so there has been little appetite in the ornamental tree community to consider new ornamental Pyrus selections. The Japanese pear Ooharibeni, which I believe is a cross of Nijisseiki and Max Red Bartlett, was billed as a red flowering and red leafed ornamental (as well as red fruit) when I added it to the NCGR collection, but I don’t think it has ever expressed any more red in the leaves or flowers than other Japanese pear cultivars. It used to be offered by Raintree Nursery in Washington.”
However, delving deep into varieties available in China wound up showing a few that have pink flowers, red leaves, and red fruit. Aohong #1 is an example. I am going to attempt to source a couple of red flowered varieties this spring.
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Sounds like a plan. Let us know what you find.
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Take a look at these. https://baike.baidu.com/item/中国红花酥梨/7620532
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Oh this is a red flower mutation of Red Early Crisp pear… I didnt know it.
I have 3 on my list now. Hanxi red flowered pear, Red Early Crisp, and Aohong no 1. I found dozens of pink flowered pears, but only 3 so far that pictures clearly show are red flowered.
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You have any pic of Hanxi pear or chinese names please? More easy to find…
Try this instead. I’ve been using an AI search with a carefully constructed set of terms.
“Search Chinese websites for pears with red flowers and reply with the websites and a summary of the pear description”
There is a very good chance you will get different results and find some I did not.
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I’m going to add links to articles and descriptions of red flowered pears. This will be edited several times over the next few days.
This site describes “Zaosu Red Pear” with a picture which to me looks very much like Aohong No 1. It also has a description of a chimera described as “Zaosu Red Striped Pear” with pictures that I believe are consistent with the Zaosu Striped that several of us in the U.S. have growing. This website says the striped version seems to have occurred as a chimera multiple times but always with Zaosu Red Pear as the source. This is unconfirmed but the information seems reasonable. This site says Early Red Crisp striped is the same pear.
https://academic.oup.com/plphys/article/192/3/2185/7043516?login=false
This weblink is a research publication delving into the genetics of red anthocyanin expression in Aohong no 1 pear as compared with other closely related pears. MYB genes are implicated in which suppression of production of hydrogen sulphide produces the red coloring. There is abundant information that the mutation can spontaneously reverse as the gene switches from methylated to demethylated or vice versa. I have not delved deeply enough into the genetics yet to determine effects on the fully red pear vs the striped red pear.
This link translated says “The first tender leaves are bright red, the old leaves are dark red, the trunk and flowers are red, for the red leaves, red flowers, red trees, red fruit, the fruit shape is round, mature in mid-August, the single fruit weighs 300-500 grams, the fruit is all red, the taste is crisp and refreshing.” It is named as “Huaxi crispy red pear”. I think this is the one that was translated as “Hanxi” on a previously found site. Please see the striped pear described as a “dragon” pear for another interesing variety.
https://baike.baidu.com/item/中国红花酥梨/7620532
I have this site linked above, adding it here to have all the links in one place.
https://baike.baidu.com/item/红茄梨/6958755
Appears to be a red European variety, has some similarity to Kalle aka Red Clapp’s Favorite. Some of the pictures on this page appear to be unique and unknown red pear varietie.
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That Chinese link is interesting, had no idea red-flowered pear mutations existed. Would be something to see in bloom.
They have both red zao su li and aohong n1 but they dont know or dont say.
I updated the post with Chinese red pear info. Luis, you might want to look at the one covering Hauxi crispy red pear.
When a variety is described as a “fragrant” pear, it usually means a hybrid between Asian and European varieties where European varieties are more aromatic and contribute that aroma to hybrids with Asian varieties. At least one of the described red pears appears to be a hybrid fragrant red pear with red blooms.
Some breeding work has been done with red pears in China. Information is limited but there are a few mentions of breeding programs that specifically mention red pear varieties being developed.
At this point, I think these four are fairly common.
Hauxi Crispy Red Pear
Zaosu red pear (striped version)
Aohong no 1 seems to be a spontaneous mutation from Zaosu Red but this needs to be confirmed
Zaosu Red pear (solid red mutation that appears to have been found in 2006, may be a pseudonym of Aohong no 1
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