“Li” is transliterated from Chinese. “Ri” borrowed from Chinese to Korean and then transliterated from Korean to English and shouldn’t sound like an English “R”, but rather slightly rolled and intermediate between and “L” and “R”. Technically the pear should just be called the Seu pear. Seuri Li = Seu Pear Pear.
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I purchased some scion wood and grafted what was supposed to be Seuri Asian Pear. Does this look like Seuri to those that have grown this variety? I just thought the browny/orangish hue of the graft’s leaves was a little strange.
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I don’t have Seuri, but some baby Asian pear leaves are just straight up redish. I have some pictures of one such Dasui Li.
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I have some Scions labelled Seuri. Now I will have to graft it to check out the bubblegum flavor…lol
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My Seuri scionwood came from the old Sonoma Antique Apple Nursery around 2007. (Their stock all moved to Trees of Antiquity a few years later, but ToA has stopped carrying this one.) Seuri has been my favorite Asian pear, and when I moved to another house in 2013 I brought some along.
My Seuri fruit have always looked just like JohannsGarden’s photo from the Feb 2022 comment … until this year, when around 10% of them had the “bumpy” appearance shown in scottfsmith’s original post . This suggests that the bumpiness might be not a genetic difference but rather something to do with conditions (we had a very cool summer), or maybe an infection. Will be interesting to see if the bumpiness applies to more or fewer fruits next year.
This strain of Seuri is very vigorous. I put two grafts of it onto a “three in one” tree I’d picked up at a local nursery in 2013, and those two Seuri grafts have completely dominated the Hosui and Chojuro branches hosting them; no matter how aggressively I prune, the tree always seems to be 80% Seuri.
Unlike most Japanese varieties I’ve tried, the Seuri eating quality really benefits from being picked a week early and ripening in the kitchen. (I found that also with another Chinese variety Ya Li, but that one wasn’t interesting enough for me to bring it to the new house.) Seuri has a unique flavor that reminds me not of bubblegum, but of some other spice(s) that you might find in desserts – clove, cardamom, anise, I can’t really make it out – and it is stellar when exactly ripe.
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Perhaps Hosui doesn’t like the heat? It’s cold Hardy to Zone 4, and you’re in Zone 9? Chojuro is probably cold Hardy to Zone 4 as well, but maybe only 4b, and most list it as Hardy to Zone 5. I know you’re not talking about Olympic, but that’s a great bearing tree, and I just found out it’s Hardy to Zone 5.
I recommend Olympic/Korean Giant to people in Urban situations or who want narrow trees, that have a narrow but heavily beating habit at least when grafted on betulafolia.