The 'Laxton's Superb' is an apple

cultivar A cultivar is a type of cultivated plant that people have selected for desired traits and when propagated retain those traits. Methods used to propagate cultivars include: division, root and stem cuttings, offsets, grafting, tissue culture, ...

that was developed in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

in 1897. It is a

cross breed A crossbreed is an organism with purebred parents of two different breeds, varieties, or populations. ''Crossbreeding'', sometimes called "designer crossbreeding", is the process of breeding such an organism, While crossbreeding is used to main ...

between

Cellini Benvenuto Cellini (, ; 3 November 150013 February 1571) was an Italian goldsmith, sculptor, and author. His best-known extant works include the ''Cellini Salt Cellar'', the sculpture of ''Perseus with the Head of Medusa'', and his autobiography ...

and '

Cox's Orange Pippin Cox's Orange Pippin, in Britain often referred to simply as Cox, is an apple cultivar first grown in 1825, at Colnbrook in Buckinghamshire, England, by the retired brewer and horticulturist Richard Cox. Though the parentage of the cultivar i ...

' and is not a cross between Wyken Pippin and Cox Orange Pippin. It is a British apple with a green color and a dull red flush. It is a firm-textured dessert apple. The fruit is well known for its sweet and aromatic taste which is likened to the parent species it is derived from, the 'Cox's Orange Pippin'. *S genotype S5 S16b *Density 0.80-0.82 g/cc *Sugar 14.0% *Acid 7.4 g/litre.Petzold Herbert, Apfelsorten, 1990 *Vitamin C 5-9mg/100g.

History

Bank Hall Walled Garden Apple Trees May 2010

'Laxton's Superb' was first bred in 1897 by

Laxton Brothers Laxton Brothers was a business founded by Edward Augustine Lowe Laxton MBE (1869–1951) and William Hudson Lowe Laxton (1866–1923) who were notable horticulturists, pioneers of plant breeding and experts on fruit production creating several ne ...

and introduced in 1922 having received an

Award of Garden Merit The Award of Garden Merit (AGM) is a long-established annual award for plants by the British Royal Horticultural Society (RHS). It is based on assessment of the plants' performance under UK growing conditions. History The Award of Garden Merit ...

from the

Royal Horticultural Society The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity. The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr (Nort ...

in 1921. Laxton Brothers were a famous

Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardia ...

company of plant breeders from

Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population of the Bedford built-up area (including Biddenham and Kempston) was 106,940, making it the second-largest settlement in Bedfordshire, behind Luton, whilst ...

in England. Laxton Brothers were also well known for breeding numerous fruit varieties (apples and strawberries in particular).

Thomas Laxton Thomas Laxton (1830 – 6 August 1893) was a plant breeder and a correspondent of Charles Darwin, best known for his hybridisation of peas. Thomas Laxton was born in the village of Tinwell, Rutland in 1830. He practised as a solicitor in Stam ...

's company continued to trade after his death in 1893 as "Laxton Brothers" as the company was taken over by his sons and grandsons, until it ceased trading in 1957 when it was taken over by Bunyard Nurseries. Bunyard eventually shut down the company and the orchards were built upon. However, the Laxton variety of apple still lives on as the town of Bedford has planted an orchard of the Laxton apple trees.

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...

was also believed to have ordered fruit trees and plants for his

Chartwell Chartwell is a country house near Westerham, Kent, in South East England. For over forty years it was the home of Winston Churchill. He bought the property in September 1922 and lived there until shortly before his death in January 1965. In th ...

estate in

Westerham Westerham is a town and civil parish in the Sevenoaks District of Kent, England. It is located 3.4 miles east of Oxted and 6 miles west of Sevenoaks, adjacent to the Kent border with both Greater London and Surrey. It is recorded as early as t ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

. There are also surviving Laxton apple trees at Bank Hall in Bretherton, Lancashire.

Growing

The Laxton Superb is self-fertile, but cross pollination will maximise the yield. The Laxton Superb generally flowers from April to May annually. The tree will usually provide a heavy crop which is best to be harvested in October.Bunyard, E.A. (1920) "A Handbook of Fruits", P96. Stong tendency to biennal bearing.

References

{{Apples, state=collapsed British apples Dessert apples Apple cultivars

History

Growing

See also

References