What is "pyrus communis"

Pear \Pear\ (p[^a]r), n. [OE. pere, AS. peru, L. pirum: cf. F. poire. Cf. Perry.] (Bot.) The fleshy pome, or fruit, of a rosaceous tree ( Pyrus communis), cultivated in many varieties in temperate climates; also, the tree which bears this fruit. See Pear family, below. Pear blight.

1. (Bot.) A name of two distinct diseases of pear trees, both causing a destruction of the branches, viz., that caused by a minute insect ( Xyleborus pyri), and that caused by the freezing of the sap in winter.
   --A. J. Downing.

2. (Zo["o]l.) A very small beetle ( Xyleborus pyri) whose larv[ae] bore in the twigs of pear trees and cause them to wither.

   Pear family (Bot.), a suborder of rosaceous plants ( Pome[ae]), characterized by the calyx tube becoming fleshy in fruit, and, combined with the ovaries, forming a pome. It includes the apple, pear, quince, service berry, and hawthorn.

   Pear gauge (Physics), a kind of gauge for measuring the exhaustion of an air-pump receiver; -- so called because consisting in part of a pear-shaped glass vessel.

   Pear shell (Zo["o]l.), any marine gastropod shell of the genus Pyrula, native of tropical seas; -- so called from the shape.

   Pear slug (Zo["o]l.), the larva of a sawfly which is very injurious to the foliage of the pear tree.

Pyrus communis, known as the European pear or common pear, is a species of pear native to central and eastern Europe and southwest Asia.

It is one of the most important fruits of temperate regions, being the species from which most orchard pear cultivars grown in Europe, North America, and Australia have been developed. Two other species of pears, the Nashi pear ( Pyrus pyrifolia) and the hybrid Chinese white or ya pear ( Pyrus × bretschneideri, ) are more widely grown in East Asia.