''Pyrus elaeagrifolia'', the oleaster-leafed pear, is a species of wild

pear Pears are fruits produced and consumed around the world, growing on a tree and harvested in the Northern Hemisphere in late summer into October. The pear tree and shrub are a species of genus ''Pyrus'' , in the family Rosaceae, bearing the p ...

plant Plants are predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all current definitions of Plantae exclud ...

in the genus ''Pyrus'' (

Rosaceae Rosaceae (), the rose family, is a medium-sized family of flowering plants that includes 4,828 known species in 91 genera. The name is derived from the type genus ''Rosa''. Among the most species-rich genera are ''Alchemilla'' (270), ''Sorbus ...

), the specific name referring to the similarity of its foliage to that of ''

Elaeagnus angustifolia ''Elaeagnus angustifolia'', commonly called Russian olive, silver berry, oleaster, or wild olive, is a species of ''Elaeagnus'', native to western and central Asia, Iran, from southern Russia and Kazakhstan to Turkey, parts of Pakistan and parts of ...

'' - the so-called 'wild olive' or oleaster. It is native to

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...

, Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, Turkey, and Ukraine's

Crimea Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula in Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, that has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It has a pop ...

. It prefers dry habitat and elevations up to . It grows to a height of . The flowers are

hermaphrodite In reproductive biology, a hermaphrodite () is an organism that has both kinds of reproductive organs and can produce both gametes associated with male and female sexes. Many Taxonomy (biology), taxonomic groups of animals (mostly invertebrate ...

. The species is highly resistant to drought and frost. It is

sympatric In biology, two related species or populations are considered sympatric when they exist in the same geographic area and thus frequently encounter one another. An initially interbreeding population that splits into two or more distinct species sh ...

with ''

Pyrus pyraster ''Pyrus pyraster'' ( syn. ''Pyrus communis subsp. pyraster''), also called European wild pear, is a species of pear of the family Rosaceae. This wild pear and ''Pyrus caucasica'' (syn. ''P. communis'' subsp. ''caucasica'') are thought to be the ...

''. The species was first described by

Peter Simon Pallas Peter Simon Pallas Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS FRSE (22 September 1741 – 8 September 1811) was a Prussian zoologist and botanist who worked in Russia between 1767 and 1810. Life and work Peter Simon Pallas was born in Berlin, the son ...

in 1793.

Varieties

Known subspecies are: ''Pyrus elaeagrifolia'' subsp. ''elaeagrifolia'' (no accessions), ''Pyrus elaeagrifolia'' subsp. ''kotschyana'', ''Pyrus elaeagrifolia'' subsp. ''bulgarica'', and ''Pyrus elaeagrifolia'' subsp. ''yaltirikii''.

References

External links

* * elaeagrifolia Flora of Bulgaria {{pyrus-stub