Jonathan (apple) explained

Malus domestica Jonathan
Species:Malus domestica
Cultivar:Jonathan
Origin:Woodstock, New York, before 1826

Jonathan is a medium-sized sweet apple, with a touch of acid and a tough but smooth skin, good for eating fresh and for cooking. Parentage = Esopus Spitzenburg x ?[1] [2]

History

There are two alternative theories about the origin of the Jonathan apple.

The first theory; it was grown by Rachel Negus Higley, who gathered seeds from the local cider mill in Connecticut. This was before the family made their journey to the wilds of Ohio in 1796, where she planted them.[4] She continued to carefully cultivate her orchard to maturity and named the resulting variety after a young local boy, Jonathan Lash, who frequented her orchard.

The other, more accepted, theory is that it originated from an Esopus Spitzenburg seedling in 1826, on the farm of Philip Rick(s) in Woodstock, Ulster County, New York. Although it may have originally been called the "Ricks" apple, it was soon renamed by Judge Jesse Buel, President of Albany Horticultural Society, after Jonathan Zander, who discovered the apple and brought it to Buel's attention.[5] [2]

Descendants

Disease susceptibility

high[6]

high

high

high

Notes and References

  1. Luby, Howard, Tillman, Bedford. HortScience 57(3):472-477. 2022
  2. Book: Beach. S.A. . Booth. N.O. . Taylor. O.M. . 1905 . The apples of New York . J. B. Lyon . Albany . https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/56420#page/296/mode/1up . Biodiversity Heritage Library. Jonathan . 1 . 172–174.
  3. Book: Silbereisen. Robert. Götz. Gerhard . Hartmann. Walter. Obstsorten Atlas. 2014 . Nikol . de. Fruit Varieties Atlas. 978-3-86-820219-9.
  4. Book: Johnson, Mary Coffin. Mary Coffin Johnson. The Higleys and their ancestry. D. Appleton and Company. New York. 1896 . Archive.org.
  5. Web site: Routson . Kanin . Nabhan . Gary Paul . . dead . Southwest Regis-Tree of Heirloom Perennial Species and Varieties-Fruit and Nut descriptions . https://web.archive.org/web/20061222035045/http://www.environment.nau.edu/food/Regis-Tree/Regis-Tree_Fruit_and_Nut_descriptions.pdf . 2006-12-22.
  6. Dr. Stephen Miller of the USDA Fruit Research Lab in Kearneysville, West Virginia.