Sorbopyrus

I have grafted sorbopyrus "shipova" and sobopyrus "tatarka", two varieties of sorbopyrus, which is a hybrid tree of pyrus communis x sorbus aria, onto quince C dwarf rootstock.

The idea is to then cross the two and to try and grow new sorbopyrus varieties.

Both grafts took and are looking ok. Sorbopyrus is known to take a long time before starting to flower so by grafting it on to Quince C and by constricting the roots i am hoping to speed up flowering.

This type of fruit tree is often called Shipova but Shipova is in reality just one variety of sorbopyrus.

It is a nice name though and i can see why people refer to the tree by this name.

Shipova also is considered the best variety and the most widely grown. But this is because most people don't know tatarka, which was grown by a mister Tatar at the botanical gardens in Prague from sorbopyrus seed.

Sorbopyrus, and shipova in particular, apparently rarely produce viable seed and many fruits are seedless.

There is quite a bit of confusion surrounding sorbopyrus with nobody really knowing how many different kinds there are.

The NCGR sorbus catalogue in america lists 5 different types apart from the original sorbopyrus auricularis (bollwiller pear)

They are shipova, bulbiformis, baciu 1, baciu 2 and smokvarka

https://www.ars.usda.gov/ARSUserFiles/20721500/catalogs/soracc.html

But they say themselves that smokvarka and bulbiformis may be the same as shipova.On top of that people tend to call these trees shipova in general. It's all pretty confusing.

It's a beautiful, very interesting tree and i can't wait to get fruit some day

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