From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Applecrabs
are various
hybrids
between
crabapples
and
apples
. They are bred for varying reasons, including disease resistance and use in cold climates because they are often hardier than apple trees and their fruit has the good eating qualities of apples.
Applecrabs are sometimes distinguished from apples if the fruit diameter is less than 5 cm (2 in).
[1]
Cold-hardy applecrabs
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Director of the
Canadian
Central Experimental Farm
William Saunders
(1836?1914) produced a number of such hybrids as part of an effort to develop good-quality eating apples for the Canadian prairies by
crossing
the domesticated apple
cultivars
with selected winter-hardy crabapple species.
[1]
Cultivars
include:
- Malus
'Columbia' is from one of Saunders' early experiments crossing
M. baccata
(from
Siberia
) with relatively hardy apples.
[1]
- Malus
'Kerr' is from crossing 'Dolgo' crabapple and 'Haralson' apple.
[2]
- Malus
'Osman' is from one of Saunders' early experiments crossing
M. baccata
with relatively hardy apples.
[1]
- Malus
'Rescue'
[3]
- Malus 'Trailman' is from crossing 'Trail' with 'Osman'.
[4]
Scab-resistant apples
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A separate project was initiated by C.S. Crandall of the
University of Illinois
to breed
scab
-resistant apples by introducing the
VF
gene from the crabapple
Malus floribunda
. His work has been continued by the
PRI disease resistant apple breeding program
with great success.
[5]
Among the scab-resistant apples that carry the
VF
gene are:
[
citation needed
]
Red-fleshed applecrabs
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Another type of applecrab breeding program stems from
Malus niedzwetskyana
, a red-fleshed crabapple, a few of which can still be found in
Siberia
and the Caucasus. It has been used by modern breeders to breed some red-leaved, red-flowered, and red-fruited domesticated
apples
and crabapples. One example is
'Surprise'
, a pink-fleshed apple that was brought to the United States by German immigrants around 1840 and was later used by horticulturist
Albert Etter
to breed some 30 pink- and red-fleshed varieties, the best-known of which is
'Pink Pearl'
.
[6]
Another horticulturist,
Niels Ebbesen Hansen
, encountered
M. niedzwetskyana
in the
Ili valley
in what is now
Kazakhstan
during his 1897 expedition to Russia, and began two breeding programs based on this unusual fruit, one aimed at developing a cold-hardy cooking and eating apple and the other aimed at developing ornamental crabapples. His efforts resulted in the 'Almata' apple and the 'Hopa' crabapple, among other varieties. Some of these apples, as well as
M. niedzwetskyana
itself, are being used for small-scale commercial production of rose
apple ciders
.
[7]
See also
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References
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External links
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