Hist. of Bot. Disc. I (Google Books ⧉, Amazon ⧉, Bookshop ⧉)

The Travels of Marco Polo

[“Large pears are nowadays produced in Shan-tung and Manchuria, but they are rather tasteless and coarse. I am inclined to suppose that Polo’s large pears were Chinese quinces, Cydonia chinensis, Thouin, this fruit being of enormous size, sometimes one foot long, and very fragrant. The Chinese use it for sweet-meats.” (Bretschneider, Hist. of Bot. Disc. I. p. 2.)—H. C.]