Apple identification help.

[Nik Saunders]

Hiya, we have an apple that we have not a clue what it is. The parent tree was an old tree in a neighbour's garden in Vendee, France that we took a scion from and grafted onto a tree here at home. It is defifnitely not an eater or a culinary apple. It was in an orchard with other cookers and eaters though, one russet I wish we'd taken a scion from that was huge, like a Howgate Wonder, but I digress.

The apple itself is small (but not so small to be a crab) and ripens late September (now) to an almost yellow colour with pink blush. It is sweet, probably bittersweet, with soft-ish tannins and quite juicy. it seems to be rather a heavy cropper every year so far, we've only had it cropping for around 8 years. The scion was grafted onto an established MM106 tree and has been vigorous to say the least.

It is quite distinctive to look at as you can see from the photo. 

Thanks in advance, Nik.

[andy...@googlemail.com]

hi it looks very similar to a Cherry Norman, which despite the name is supposedly not French variety. There are only a handful of cherry norman trees left, and they usually stand out owing to an almost fluorescent appearance to the apples. 

The FruitID profile is here :  fruitID | Apple | Cherry Norman

[Nik Saunders]

Hi Andy, 

and thanks, that's very interesting.

That is indeed a very close match but I'm not sure it's exact.  The colour and size is spot on as is the cross section through the pips, but the stalk on mine is longer and the cavity is deep. The basin is also deeper on mine. See below.

I guess the only way is to get a DNA check which I'll have to find out about.

[andy...@googlemail.com]

Plus the apples on your tree bunch up like onions. 

No idea then, but luckily it is very distinctive so with a bit of digging you should identify it. 

there are a few experts in france for apple identification, find a website and email them nicely. 

thanks