Both Chip and the genetic dwarf pear tree 'Le Nain Vert'
(meaning the green dwarf) were in their fifth year when the first photo
was taken in 1987. This very small statured fruit tree has normal size
fruit, but the internodes are very short, resulting in a tree that never
exceeds about a meter in height. In the second photo, the same Chip is
shown standing next to the same tree ten years later. At age 15, boy is
much taller than tree!
In 'The Pears of New York' (1921), U. P. Hedrick provides the following
description of Le Nain Vert:
"This strange variety was obtained from seed by M. de Nerbonne, in
the commune of Huille (Maine-et-Loire), France, and first fruited in 1839. The
tree forms a bush between 3 and 4 feet high; it is remarkable for its dwarf
habit, and its erect, thick, fleshy branches. Fruit medium and sometimes
larger, globular, irregular, but variable in form; skin thin, slightly rough,
yellowish-green, uniformly covered with large gray-russet dots; flesh white,
semi-fine and semi-melting, rather dry; juice de ficient, sugary, sweet, almost
without perfume; third; October."