The 'Spartan' 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, ...
developed by R. C Palmer and introduced in 1936 from the Federal Agriculture Research Station in
Summerland, British Columbia
Summerland (2016 population 11,615) is a town on the west side of Okanagan Lake in the interior of British Columbia, Canada. The district is between Peachland to the north and Penticton to the south. The largest centre in the region is Kelown ...
, now known as the
Pacific Agri-Food Research Centre The Pacific Agri-Food Research Centre (previously known as the Dominion Experimental Farm at Summerland and Summerland Research Station) is an agricultural research centre in British Columbia, Canada. The centre has been historically important in th ...
- Summerland. The 'Spartan' is notable for being the first new breed of apple produced from a formal scientific breeding program. The apple was supposed to be a cross between two North American cultivars, the
'McIntosh' and the '
Newtown Pippin
The Newtown Pippin, also known as Albemarle Pippin, is an American apple that originated in the late 17th or early 18th century and is still cultivated on a small scale. At one time, there were two very similar apple cultivars known as the 'Yello ...
', but recently, genetic analysis showed the 'Newtown Pippin' was not one of the parents and its identity remains a mystery. The 'Spartan' apple is considered a good all-purpose apple.
The apple is of medium size and has a bright-red blush, but can have background patches of greens and yellows.
Disease susceptibility
*Scab: high
[Stephen Miller of the USDA Fruit Research Lab in Kearneysville, West Virginia.]
*Powdery mildew: high
*Cedar apple rust: high
*Fire blight: medium
Sports and descendants
* 'Hunter Spartan', a tetraploid form of 'Spartan'
Gallery
Спартан (сорт яблук) IMG 0468 02.JPG, apple from Chernihiv
Chernihiv ( uk, Черні́гів, , russian: Черни́гов, ; pl, Czernihów, ; la, Czernihovia), is a city and municipality in northern Ukraine, which serves as the administrative center of Chernihiv Oblast and Chernihiv Raion within ...
(Ukraine), 2014
Spartan Apple.jpg, green - they grew in shadow
File:Cross section of Hunter Spartan, National Fruit Collection (acc. 1974-062).jpg, Hunter spartan
Apples_in_basket_2018_G1.jpg, apples in a basket. Ukraine, Vinnytsia Oblast
Vinnytsia Oblast ( uk, Ві́нницька о́бласть, translit=Vinnytska oblast; ; also referred to as Vinnychchyna — uk, Ві́нниччина) is an oblast of western and southwestern Ukraine. Its administrative center is Vinnytsia. ...
, 2018
See also
*
List of Canadian inventions and discoveries
Canadian inventions and discoveries are objects, processes, or techniques—invented, innovated, or discovered—that owe their existence either partially or entirely to a person born in Canada, a citizen of Canada, or a company or organizatio ...
*
Ambrosia (apple)
Ambrosia is a cultivar of apple originating in British Columbia, Canada in the early 1990s. The original tree was first cultivated by the Mennell family of Similkameen Valley, British Columbia, who discovered it growing in their orchard.
Descr ...
*
Jubilee apple
Jubilee apple is a modern cultivar of dessert apple, which was developed in the Canadian province of British Columbia by the Summerland Research Station.
*
McIntosh (apple)
The McIntosh ( ), McIntosh Red, or colloquially the Mac, is an apple cultivar, the national apple of Canada. The fruit has red and green skin, a tart flavour, and tender white flesh, which ripens in late September. In the 20th century it was t ...
References
External links
National Fruit Collection page
{{Apples, state=collapsed
Apple cultivars