Shipova pear trees

Shipova is a very unusual and interesting hybrid between the common pear (Pyrus communis) and an ornamental rowan or whitebeam tree (Sorbus aria), and is also known as the Bollwyller Pear.

The flowers are large by Sorbus standards but still look more like Sorbus flowers than pear blossom. They appear in May - much later than pear blossom.

The fruits are borne in clusters, more reminscent of whitebeam berries than regular pears, but each fruitlet is a small pear, about 4cm in size, with a pleasant pear-like flavour. 

The leaves also show characteristics of both species, their size and the leaf undersides being similar to those of whitebeams - and from a distance the tree looks much more like a whitebeam than a pear tree.