Taxon ID:
Usage Facet: class=edible; edible_score=2.0; ornamental_score=0.0; inferred_from_taxon=no
Relationships: 0 | Linked Entities (visible): 0 | Evidence claims: 14 | History events: 0 | Catalog issue offerings: 0
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Evidence Badge: emerging | claims=14 | sources=1 | contradictions=0
Claim Types: breeding_cross:1, description_snippet:1, fruit_size:1, release_year_reference:1 | Open evidence summary JSON | Open citation drawer JSON
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Ilya is a pear from N. E. Hansen's hardy, fire blight resistant pear breeding work. One source records it as a 1940 introduction. Its stated parentage is Vinnaja selenaja, translated as "Green wine," crossed with a standard pear from southern Missouri. Hansen's broader pear program aimed to combine the hardiness and blight resistance of northern Asian pears with the size and quality of standard European fruit. Ilya was still listed among the available pear selections in 1944. [S1] [S2]
Sources describe the fruit as about 2 1/4 by 2 1/4 inches, globular, somewhat irregular, and obscurely angular around the stem, with yellow skin and minute russet dots. The Russian parent is said to have had a pleasant subacid flavor but prominent grit cells. Ilya kept the pleasant subacid flavor and gained tender, melting flesh free of grit. When fully ripe, it was described as very juicy. It was recommended as a summer table and culinary pear. [S1]
The strongest context for Ilya is programmatic rather than specific to the cultivar. It appears in a section on pears described as resistant or immune to fire blight, within Hansen's long effort to breed pears suited to cold prairie conditions. The page also states that several new seedlings in this breeding work bore heavy crops in 1939 and remained free of fire blight even when the disease was present in the orchard, but the source does not give a separate hardiness or disease rating for Ilya alone. [S1] [S2]
Ilya also has a small piece of naming history. The bulletin glosses the name as that of a legendary Russian giant. That fits its place in Hansen's Russian and Siberian pear material, where cultivar names often preserved geographic and cultural links to the germplasm he introduced and used in breeding. [S1]
Summary source basis
This summary currently draws chiefly from New Hardy Fruits for the Northwest, with 1 additional supporting sources linked below.
Featured source descriptions
“In this hybrid there is no increase in size but the flesh is tender, melting and free from grit.”
— [1]
“The fruit of the Russian pear was a pleasant subacid, but with prominent grit cells.”
— [1]
“Listed in the table of contents under 'Pears Resistant or Immune to Fire Blight.'”
— [1]
“Indexed at Bulletin 339, page 22.”
— [1]
Direct parent cultivars
Parentage claim text
Derived or downstream cultivar links
Source-story quotations
Taxonomy context: No family-tree context surfaced yet.
Related cultivars mentioned in source context
Zone assertions are structured rows. Hardiness claim text appears in evidence claims and page-linked citations.
| Zone Min | Zone Max | Zone Text | Assertion Type | Outcome | Location | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No explicit zone assertion rows yet. | ||||||
No linked media assets.
| Document | Title/URL | Rights | Claims | Relationships | History Events | Pages | Snippets |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | New Hardy Fruits for the Northwest | unknown | 14 | 0 | 0 | p23 | Ilya: Very juicy when fully ripe.; Ilya: 2y4 inches; Ilya: Fruit 2Y4 x 2Y4 inches, globular, somewhat irregular and obscurely angular, especially around the stem; yellow with minute inconspicuous russet dots; {"cultivar_ |
| Document | Page | Claim Type | Claim | Quote | Match |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | p23 | verbatim_quote | (Ilya: a legendary Russian giant.) | (Ilya: a legendary Russian giant.) | normalized_exact:1.00 |
| 1 | p23 | verbatim_quote | Agood summer table and culinary pear | Agood summer table and culinary pear | normalized_exact:1.00 |
| 1 | p23 | verbatim_quote | Very juicy when fully ripe | Very juicy when fully ripe | normalized_exact:1.00 |
| 1 | p23 | verbatim_quote | In this hybrid there is no increase in size but the flesh is tender, melting and free from grit, pleasant subacid | In this hybrid there is no increase in size but the flesh is tender, melting and free from grit, pleasant subacid | normalized_exact:1.00 |
| 1 | p23 | verbatim_quote | The fruit of the Russian pear was a pleasant subacid, but with priminent grit cells | The fruit of the Russian pear was a pleasant subacid, but with priminent grit cells | normalized_exact:1.00 |
| 1 | p23 | verbatim_quote | Fruit 2Y4 x 2Y4 inches, globular, somewhat irregular and obscurely angular, especially around the stem; yellow with minute inconspicuous russet dots | Fruit 2Y4 x 2Y4 inches, globular, somewhat irregular and obscurely angular, especially around the stem; yellow with minute inconspicuous russet dots | normalized_exact:1.00 |
| 1 | p23 | verbatim_quote | Vinnaja selenaja (" Green wine"), a Russian pear x a standard pear from southern Missouri | Vinnaja selenaja (" Green wine"), a Russian pear x a standard pear from southern Missouri | normalized_exact:1.00 |
| 1 | p23 | verbatim_quote | ILYA pear-1940 | ILYA pear-1940 | normalized_exact:1.00 |
| Year | Nursery | Catalog Issue | Relation |
|---|---|---|---|
| No catalog issue offerings linked. | |||
| Relation | Type | ID | Label |
|---|---|---|---|
| No linked entities at this filter level. | |||
| Type | Claim | Confidence |
|---|---|---|
| description_snippet | Very juicy when fully ripe. | 0.54 |
| fruit_size | 2y4 inches | 0.58 |
| entry_basin_calyx | Fruit 2Y4 x 2Y4 inches, globular, somewhat irregular and obscurely angular, especially around the stem; yellow with minute inconspicuous russet dots | 0.88 |
| structured_entry_json | {"cultivar_name":"Ilya","year":1940,"heading_raw":"ILYA","locations":[],"crosses":["a Russian pear x a standard pear from southern Missouri"],"fruit_size_mentions":["2Y4 inches"],"color_mentions":["yellow"],"morphology_t | 0.95 |
| verbatim_quote | (Ilya: a legendary Russian giant.) | 0.97 |
| verbatim_quote | A good summer table and culinary pear | 0.97 |
| verbatim_quote | Very juicy when fully ripe | 0.97 |
| verbatim_quote | In this hybrid there is no increase in size but the flesh is tender, melting and free from grit, pleasant subacid | 0.97 |
| verbatim_quote | The fruit of the Russian pear was a pleasant subacid, but with priminent grit cells | 0.97 |
| verbatim_quote | Fruit 2Y4 x 2Y4 inches, globular, somewhat irregular and obscurely angular, especially around the stem; yellow with minute inconspicuous russet dots | 0.97 |
| verbatim_quote | Vinnaja selenaja (" G reen wine"), a Russian pear x a standard pear from southern Missouri | 0.97 |
| verbatim_quote | ILYA pear-1940 | 0.97 |
| breeding_cross | a Russian pear x a standard pear from southern Missouri | 0.90 |
| release_year_reference | 1940 | 0.92 |
| ID | Type | Year | Label |
|---|---|---|---|
| No history events. | |||