Anon, on the Pear’s Peculiarly Ponging Posy

“The facts regarding pear pollination are similar to those with apples, save that the main agents in carrying pollen are drone flies and bluebottles, followed by humble bees, and then by hive bees. This is no doubt due in part to the earlier flowering of the pear in weather as a rule less congenial to the hive bee, and in part of the peculiar fishy odour of pear flowers which renders them attractive to the flies mentioned.”

Apples and Pears, Varieties and Cultivation in 1934 (1935)

The quotation above is from the report on a Conference held by the Royal Horticultural Society at the Crystal Palace in London, from September 19th-21st, 1934. The Conference was attended by some of the most renowned pomologists of the day, who had come together to discuss various aspects of the growing of apples and pears.

In the Conference report is a paper entitled “Pollination in Apples, Pears and Plums” which was apparently prepared for the Conference but for some reason wasn’t delivered during the event. Oddly, the author isn’t credited, but it could have been written by A. N. Rawes, then of the R. H. S. garden at Wisley, who was the author of the previous paper in the report, on “Fruit Trees for Small Gardens”.

Even more oddly, there’s that mention of the “peculiar fishy odour of pear flowers”. This is not something I’ve ever noticed before, but of course it intrigued me mightily. And so today I made the effort to sniff the blooms of the pears that are currently in flower down on the allotment. Two such trees are currently doing their floral thing:

Pear ‘Doyenne d’Été’

Pear ‘Nouveau Poiteau’

And you know what? Anon was absolutely right. I stuck my face into a flower cluster, had a good, long sniff and yes, absolutely, there’s was a distinctly fishy odour in the air. In fact, I can identify the fish: haddock. These bright, beautiful pear flowers smelled exactly like the on-their-use-by-date haddock fillets that I cooked for dinner the other night, the ones that stank the house out for at least two days afterwards. Memo to self for future reference: don’t leave haddock until its use-by date.

Fishy freshness issues aside, it’s a rather fascinating thing that I’ve learned there. I’ll also be sniffing the pears at work and keeping my eye on the insect visitors to this year’s pear flowers, to ascertain whether the flies or the bees are more active pollinators.