A MANUAL KEY FOR THE IDENTIFICATION OF APPLES BASED ON BUNYARD’S (1920) GROUPS Simon Clark of Northern Fruit Group and National Orchard Forum, with assistance from Quentin Cleal (NOF). Feedback welcome Tel: 0113 266 3235 (with answer phone), E-mail [email protected] August 2005 Introduction This key is based on Bunyard E.A. (1920) A Handbook of Fruits: Apples and Pears. London. It is intended as an alternative to the Bultitude based one. The arrangement of the groups differs slightly in the two keys and the choice of which to use is a matter of personal preference This key is something of a hybrid as it uses the preliminary “keying arrangements” that we have developed for Bultitude’s key whilst retaining the arrangement of the varieties as in Bunyard. The varieties in this key comprise Bunyard’s and Bultitude’s lists together with some widely grown cultivars developed since their books were produced. The National Fruit Collection at Brogdale are preparing a list of “recent” varieties not included in Bultitude(1983) or Bunyard (1920) 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 Each variety is categorised as belonging to one of seven broad groups (NB one less group than Bultitude has. These groups are delineated using skin characteristics and usage i.e. whether cookers, (sour) or eaters (sweet). Where your search results in a “terminal group” of more than four varieties, additional characters have been used to separate the varieties in the group. See the Bultitude based manual key for a full explanation of “terminal groups” GROUP 1 Green skin Non striped Rarely flushed Smooth skinned A few are white on the tree cookers; sour tasting raw, usually large - 1 - 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 8 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 12 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 17 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 22 GROUP 6 Discontinuous red skin Discontinuously russeted skin Dessert i.e.all are sweet and palatable raw eg Cox’s Orange Pippin & Blenheim Orange > ........................................................................................... G6 p 27 GROUP 7 Continuously russeted skin No stripes Occasional flush Dessert i.e.all are sweet and palatable raw eg Egremont Russet > ........................................................................................... G7 p 33 Within each group, the varieties are divided according to season, shape and “regularity”. If these three “major” characters fail to produce a terminal group of four or fewer varieties,(e.g. the “reinette type” varieties in Group 6), additional characters have been used to separate the varieties in these large groups further, to avoid having to search through a large number of descriptions to find the “correct” variety SEASON - 2 - August Early September October Mid November December Late January V Late February onwards SHAPE Flat Round Conical Oblong Oval Intermediates (Flat-Round) (Round-Conical) (Conical - oblong) (Oblong - Oval) - 3 - REGULARITY Polygonal in transverse section Circular in transverse section To keep the key as short as possible, character combinations for which no variety exists in the Bunyard or Bultitude lists are not included. If you encounter a variety which fits one of the missing character combinations, simply add it to the list with the appropriate characters in the appropriate position in the key. G 1 : .Green skinned non striped SEASON Early July-Aug. incl.> ..................................................................................... 4 Mid Sept – Nov incl. .> ................................................................................... 5 Late Dec –Jan incl. .> ...................................................................................... 6 Very late Feb onwards.> ........................................................................................ 7 SEASON EARLY (JULY-AUG) Flat Circular Small Medium Juneating Large Polygonal Small Medium White White Transparent Lord Suffield Non-white Early Julian Emneth Early Round … none … Round-Conical Circular … none … Polygonal Small Early Victoria Medium Large Conical Circular … none … Polygonal Small Medium Lodi - 4 - Large Oblong Circular … none … Polygonal Small Medium Sugar Loaf Large Oval … none … MID (SEPT-NOV) Flat Circular Small Medium Stirling Castle Ecklinville Seedling Large Polygonal … none … Flat-Round Circular … none … Polygonal Small Medium Nelson’s Glory Byford Wonder Large Ecklinville Round Circular … none … Polygonal Small Medium New Hawthornden Large Norfolk Dumpling Withington Fillbasket Gooseberry Round-Conical Circular Small Medium Large Shoesmith Polygonal Small Medium Large Grenadier Gold Medal Warner’s King Conical Circular Small Medium White Lord Grosvenor Antonowka - 5 - White Melrose Non white James Welch Schoolmaster Large Polygonal … none … Oblong Circular Small Medium White Venus Pippin Non white Large Charles Eyre Polygonal Small Medium White Domino Non white Large White Transparent de Croncels Non white Pott’s Seedling Dutch Codlin Lord Derby Oval … none … LATE (DEC –JAN) Flat … none … Flat-Round Circular Small Medium Paul’s Winter Hawthornden Large Polygonal Small Medium Large Woolbrook Russet Round … none … Round-Conical Circular … none … Polygonal Small Medium Dr.Hogg Nelson Codlin Large Tower of Glamis Conical … none … Oblong Circular Small Medium - 6 - Large Edward VII Polygonal Small Medium Large Lenticels Carpel Carpel Calyx width closure cavity Alfriston present broad open funnel Buff Coat present broad open funnel Catshead present broad open cone Encore present broad open cone Gloria Mundi present narrow open cone Oblong -Oval Circular … none … Polygonal Small Medium Large Hambling’s Seedling Oval … none … VERY LATE (FEB. ONWARDS) Flat … none … Round Circular Small Medium French Crab Large Polygonal Small Medium Small’s Admirable Murfitt’s Seedling Large Round … none … Round-Conical Circular … none … Polygonal Small Medium London Pippin Winter Majetin Large Calville des Femmes Conical Circular … none … Polygonal Small Medium Rhode Island Greening Gooseberry Large Oblong Circular Small - 7 - Medium Hormead Pearmain Large Polygonal Small Medium Gospatrick Large Oblong-Oval Circular … none … Polygonal Small Lemon Pippin Medium Large Oval … none … G 2 : Green skinned striped SEASON Early July-Aug. incl.>............................................................................... None Mid Sept – Nov incl. .> ................................................................................... 8 Late Dec –Jan incl. .> ...................................................................................... 9 Very late Feb onwards.> ...................................................................................... 10 SEASON EARLY (JULY-AUG) … NONE … MID (SEPT-NOV) Flat Circular Small Medium Carlisle Codlin Large Polygonal Small Hoary morning Medium Malster Tom Putt Large Queen Flat-Round Circular … none … Polygonal Small Medium Large George Neal Round Circular Small Medium Hector MacDonald Large - 8 - Polygonal Small Medium Large Colloget Pippin Conical Circular … none … Polygonal Small Medium Frogmore Prolific Signe Tillisch Large Conical-Oblong Circular … none … Polygonal Small Medium Large Loddington Large Oblong … none … Oval Circular … none … Polygonal Small Medium Large Washington (sweet) LATE (DEC –JAN) Flat Circular Small Medium Hounslow Wonder Belle de Pontoise Seaton House Large Newton Wonder Crawley Beauty Polygonal Small Medium Large Bramley’s Seedling Flat-Round Circular Small Medium Large Dumelow’s Seedling Polygonal … none … Round Circular Small Medium Large Winter Nonsuch - 9 - Lane’s Prince Albert Polygonal Small Medium New Northern Greening Large Kent Fillbasket Round-Conical Circular … none … Polygonal Small Medium Large Howgate Wonder Lewis’s Incomparable Conical Circular … none … Polygonal Small Medium Rymer Flanders Pippin Sandringham Large Lord Stradbroke Mere de Menage Bismark Isaac Newton’s Tree Oblong Circular Small Medium New Bess Pool Large Polygonal Small Medium Large Eady’s Magnum Stone’s Chelmsford Wonder Yorkshire Greening Oval Circular … none … Polygonal Small Medium Large Twenty Ounce (sweet) VERY LATE (FEB. ONWARDS) Flat Circular … none