Gustav Adolf Pear (ND Nr. 23), Gebersdorf

This wild pear carries the name of a Swedish king, and nobody has written down why. Nuremberg's list of natural monuments records it as the Gustav Adolf-Birne, the Gustav Adolf pear, protected under its own number, 23. The obvious guess is the summer of 1632, when Gustav Adolf fought around Nuremberg and Gebersdorf lay on the battlefield. But no source we have found says this tree was standing then, or explains when the name was given or by whom. A pear named after a king is a fact. A pear that watched him fight is a story nobody has backed, and we are not going to be the first to tell it. What it does have is its species. Pyrus pyraster is the wild pear, small-fruited and thorny, not an orchard tree gone feral. In mid-April 2022 a photographer caught it in blossom, and that is the week to come. It stands by Hügelstrasse, south-west of the Gebersdorf sports ground. We have not confirmed whether you can walk right up to the trunk or only see it from the street, and nobody has published its age or girth. If you know either, tell us.