A famous very late winter pear. Small to medium, almost cone-shaped, pale green with juicy, buttery, tender, sweet flesh. A good cropper every year, this variety should not be picked until the leaves fall and must be brought to ripeness carefully or its flesh will remain granular and tasteless. Not ready to eat until after Christmas. Bunyard praised this pear almost too highly, saying, 'If one winter pear only can be grown this should be selected.' Of Belgian origin about 1830. -- Robert Nitschke, Southmeadow Fruit Gardens Catalog, 1976.Raised about 1830 by Major Esperen at Malines, Belgium, and named after his wife. Fruit small, bergamot to short conical; skin smooth or slightly rough; flesh white tinged green, fine melting, sweet and moderately juicy. A good winter pear. Tree weak to moderate. Good resistance to pear scab. -- Jim Arbury, Pears, 1997.