The common pear of the produce aisle — a deciduous Rosaceae fruit tree from southern Europe and southwestern Asia that is the parent of most named pears, including Bartlett, Anjou, and Comice. Aromatic, five-petaled creamy-white spring flowers give way to the familiar pear-shaped edible fruit, ripening from mid summer to fall on glossy dark-green foliage that turns red and yellow before leaf drop. Grown almost entirely for its fruit rather than as an ornamental, and notoriously susceptible to fireblight.