Variation in Germinability of Pear Seeds

Abstract

European pomologists have shown recent interest in obtaining rootstock lines of common pear as replacements for quince, Angers A, B and C. This has brought attention to the production of pear stocks from seed. Long-abandoned farmlands recently acquired by the University of Guelph were found to contain a fairly dense stand of young and mature wild seedlings of common pear ( Pyrus communisL.). It seems reasonable to assume, from the presence of a few very old mother trees, that the community has emerged as progeny of French pear rootstocks such as were commonly used in Ontario nurseries of a century or more ago.