A MANUAL KEY FOR THE IDENTIFICATION OF APPLES BASED ON THE DESCRIPTIONS IN BULTITUDE (1983) Simon Clark of Northern Fruit Group and National Orchard Forum, with assistance from Quentin Cleal (NOF). This key is not definitive and is intended to enable the user to “home in” rapidly on likely varieties which should then be confirmed in one or more of the manuals that contain detailed descriptions e.g. Bunyard, Bultitude , Hogg or Sanders . The varieties in this key comprise Bultitude’s list together with some widely grown cultivars developed since Bultitude produced his book. The page numbers of Bultitude’s descriptions are included. The National Fruit Collection at Brogdale are preparing a list of “recent” varieties not included in Bultitude(1983) but which are likely to be encountered. This list should be available by late August. As soon as I receive it I will let you have copy. I will tabulate the characters of the varieties so that you can easily “slot them in to” the key. Feedback welcome, Tel: 0113 266 3235 (with answer phone), E-mail [email protected] Simon Clark, August 2005 References: Bultitude J. (1983) Apples. Macmillan Press, London Bunyard E.A. (1920) A Handbook of Hardy Fruits; Apples and Pears. John Murray, London Hogg R. (1884) The Fruit Manual. Journal of the Horticultural Office, London. Reprinted 2002 Langford Press, Wigtown. Sanders R. (1988) The English Apple. Phaidon, Oxford Each variety is categorised as belonging to one of eight broad groups. These groups are delineated using skin characteristics and usage i.e. whether cookers, (sour) or eaters (sweet). GROUPS GROUP 1 Green skin Non striped Rarely flushed Smooth skinned A few are white on the tree cookers; sour tasting raw, usually large e.g. Lord Derby >.........................................................................................................................G1 p.4 GROUP 2 Green skin Striped Smooth skinned Cookers; most are sour tasting raw but a few are slightly sweet, usually large e.g. Lane’s Prince Albert >.........................................................................................................................G2 p.4 - 1 - 2 GROUP 3 Golden skin Non striped Occasionally flushed A few turn white when fully ripe Mainly cookers but a few are dessert i.e. most are sour tasting raw but a few are sweet and palatable e. g. Golden Noble & Golden Spire >.........................................................................................................................G3 p.6 GROUP 4 Greenish-yellow skin Prominent stripes Some are flushed Smooth skinned Mainly dessert but a few are cookers. i..e most are sweet and palatable raw but a few are sour tasting e.g. Peasgood Nonsuch & James Grieve >.........................................................................................................................G4 p.7 GROUP 5 Continuous dark red skin Occasionally obscurely striped Smooth skinned Mainly dessert i.e most are sweet and palatable raw but a few are cookers and sour tasting raw. e.g Baumann’s Reinette & Worcester Pearmain >.........................................................................................................................G5 p.9 GROUP 6 Green skin Smooth skinned dessert i.e. sweet and palatable raw e.g Granny Smith >.......................................................................................................................G6 p.11 GROUP 7 Discontinuous red skin Discontinuously russeted skin Dessert i.e.all are sweet and palatable raw eg Cox’s Orange Pippin & Blenheim Orange >.......................................................................................................................G7 p.12 GROUP 8 Continuously russeted skin No stripes Occasional flush Dessert i.e.all are sweet and palatable raw eg Egremont Russet >.......................................................................................................................G8 p.14 Within each group, the varieties are divided according to season and shape. SEASON August Early September October Mid November December Late January V Late February onwards SHAPE “Terminal boxes” If the season and shape characters fail to produce a terminal group of four or fewer varieties,(e.g. the “reinette type” varieties in Group 8, additional characters have been used to split these groups further, to avoid having to search through a large number of descriptions to find the “correct” variety. Where the terminal group exceeds four varieties, it is extremely time consuming to work through the full descriptions of these varieties in the manuals. To reduce the size of these terminal groups and hence to minimise the number of full descriptions that have to be checked, the varieties in terminal groups containing five or more varieties have been separated, using five easily determined additional characters three of which are internal characters. To use these internal characters the fruits have to be cut in transverse section to see the two carpel characters, whilst to see the calyx cavity the basin half of the cut fruit has to be bisected, with the cut dividing the calyx cavity vertically into equal halves Because of variation within varieties you will come across specimens that have different characteristics to those given in the terminal boxes. These descriptions are not intended to be definitive but are included as a non essential aid to reducing the amount of time needed to check through the full descriptions in Bultitude. So don’t worry if a particular box is unhelpful; alter the definitions for your future use if you think this will reduce errors and/or go directly to the full descriptions in Bultitude! - 3 - 4 GROUP 1: Green skin, non striped, rarely flushed, smooth skinned, a few are white on the tree, cookers; sour tasting raw, usually large e.g. Lord Derby EARLY Flat Stirling Castle 12 Round Grenadier 183 Pott’s Seedling 271 Conical Early Victoria 152 Lord Grosvenor 230 Oblong MID Flat Ecklinville 153 Round Charles Eyre 117 Conical Lord Derby 229 Shoesmith 289 Oblong LATE Flat Broad-eyed Pippin 105 Round Dewdney’s Seedling Conical Warner’s King 308 Oblong Catshead 115 VERY LATE Flat Round Edward VII 154 Hormead Pearmain 195 Woolbrook Russet 316 French Crab 165 Conical Rhode Island Greening 277 Oblong Alfriston 73 Gloria Mundi 175 Gooseberry 179 GROUP 2: Green skin, striped, Smooth skinned, Cookers; most are sour tasting raw but a few are slightly sweet, usually large, e.g. Lane’s Prince Albert EARLY Flat Queen 272 Round George Neal 173 Conical Oblong MID Flat Round Frogmore Prolific 167 Bushey Grove 108 Cox’s Pomona 135 Conical Alexander 72 Tom Putt 303 Oblong LATE Flat Belle de Pontoise 95 Bramley’s Seedling 104 Round T. 3 Shape Lenticels Carpel Carpel Calyx spherical prominent Breadth Closure Cavity or or broad or open or funnel or polygonal obscure- narrow closed cone absent Arthur Barnes (79) spherical absent narrow closed funnel Byfleet seedling (109) polygonal prominent broad closed funnel Chelmsford wonder (120) polygonal prominent broad open funnel Cottenham seedling (132) polygonal obscure broad open cone Monarch (252) spherical obscure broad open funnel Newton Wonder (254) spherical prominent broad closed funnel Yorkshire Greening (319) polygonal absent broad open cone Conical T. 4 Shape Lenticels Carpel Carpel Calyx spherical prominent Breadth Closure Cavity or or broad or open or funnel or polygonal obscure- narrow closed cone absent Beauty of Kent polygonal prominent broad open cone Bismark (99) polygonal prominent narrow closed variable Horneburger Pfannkuchen polygonal obscure broad open cone (196) Isaac Newton’s Tree polygonal obscure broad open cone Lane’s Prince Albert (202) spherical prominent narrow open cone Lewis’s Incomparable spherical prominent broad closed cone (224) Loddington (226) polygonal prominent broad open cone Smart’s Prince Arthur polygonal prominent broad open funnel (290) Oblong VERY LATE Flat Dumelow’s Seedling 149 Ontario 263 Round Crawley Beauty 136 Striped Beefing 297 Conical Howgate Wonder 198 Northern Greening 260 Oblong - 5 - 6 Annie Elizabeth 76 Encore 157 GROUP 3: Golden skin, non striped, occasionally flushed, a few turn white when fully ripe, mainly cookers but a few are dessert i.e. most are sour tasting raw but a few are sweet and palatable, e. g. Golden Noble & Golden Spire EARLY Flat Round Conical Lodi 227 Lord Suffield White Transparent 311 Keswick Codlin Reverend W Wilks Oblong MID Flat Round T. 1 Shape Lenticels Carpel Carpel Calyx spherical prominent Breadth Closure Cavity or or broad or open or funnel or polygonal obscure- narrow closed cone absent Burr Knot (107) polygonal prominent broad open funnel Curl Tail (139) polygonal obscure broad open cone Galloway Pippin (169) spherical prominent broad open funnel Golden Noble (178) spherical prominent broad closed funnel Norfolk Beauty (257) polygonal prominent broad open funnel Conical T. 2 Shape Lenticels Carpel Carpel Calyx spherical prominent Breadth Closure Cavity or or broad or open or funnel or polygonal obscure- narrow closed cone absent Alderman (71) polygonal prominent broad open cone Arthur Turner (78) polygonal obscure narrow closed cone Carlisle Codlin (113) spherical prominent broad open cone Royal Jubilee (284) polygonal absent broad open funnel Oblong Greensleaves 182 Histon Favourite 192 LATE Flat Round Wyken Pippin Conical T. 5 Shape Lenticels Carpel Carpel Calyx spherical prominent Breadth Closure Cavity or or broad or open or funnel or polygonal obscure- narrow closed cone absent Calville Blanc