North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Mauch1@aol.com]

<The misshapen apple, as you note, has seeds on one side.   The embryo of the
seed produces hormones that cause the ovary in the vicinity to grow, so the
apple or pear is larger on that side, smaller on the side with no seeds,
making the fruit lopsided.  But with NO seeds, the fruit is generally normal
shape, just small since there are no seeds producing hormones to stimulate
the growth of the ovarian tissue.  Same thing in other fruits.  There is a
mutation of the old grape Emperor called "Jelly Bean" because it regularly
aborts the seed on one side, making the berry misshapen with a sort of
"jelly bean" shape.
>

Sorry to dig up an older topic, but this past winter I bought some very large 
pears (I believe they were Bartlett, but I'm not sure).  Anyway, I discovered 
that none of them had any seeds!  You mention that the unpollinated fruit 
would be smaller.  Well, either the crop was so light that the pears still 
became very large, or as I suspect, some GA was sprayed on them.

-- 
Chris Mauchline
SE PA, zone 6
40° 5' N    75° 51'W
~650 ft elevation