Pear Bergamot Autumnal (Red Bergamot, Autumnal Red Bergamot)

An early-autumn, old-fashioned variety of folk selection. It was widely cultivated in gardens of Russia’s middle belt for a long time, but today is found only in old plantings. Not suitable for propagation.

Trees are medium-sized with sparse, reverse-pyramidal crowns. Main branches branch off the trunk at a sharp angle.

Shoots are short, thick, greenish-brown, weakly hairy at the tips. Leaves are medium-sized, elongated-oval, strongly rolled along the central vein (almost into a tube), short-pointed, with entire margins.

Fruits are below average size (mass 75-80 g), round or bergamot-shaped. Skin is yellow-green, covered with rust-colored spots, with a sunlit side showing a dull, muddy-red blush. Peduncle is short, thin, slightly curved, with a very small, almost absent calyx. Receptacle is broad, small, and open. Fruit core is small, onion-shaped.

Flesh is whitish, with stone-like cells, loose, wine-sweet, with a distinctive aroma, of mediocre flavor. Chemical composition of fruits: total sugars — 9.7%, titratable acids — 0.13%, ascorbic acid — 7.9 mg/100g, P-active substances — 134 mg/100g, pectic substances — 4.7%.

Harvesting ripeness occurs at the beginning of September, consumer period lasts up to 3 weeks. The variety enters fruiting at age 7-8, but due to severe scab infection, fruit yield is low. Cold resistance is moderate; in harsh winters, bark on the trunk and on skeletal branch junctions freezes. Fruits also suffer from frost damage. The variety is heavily affected by scab; in some years, fruits lose their appeal and become completely non-commercial.

Advantages and disadvantages of the variety: for a long time, this variety was popular among the public, but has lost its value today: in northern regions due to freezing of trees, in southern regions due to low fruit quality and widespread scab infection.

With the participation of this variety, the All-Russian Research Institute of Fruit Crop Selection developed the variety 'Memory of Parshin' (Bere Winter Michurin Ch Autumnal Bergamot), which is included in the State Register (regionally adapted) for the Central-Chernozem region.