Apple Index - "L"

Description: Fruit medium size; skin green; flesh sweet. Ripe summer.

History: Listed by a Kentucky nursery in 1870 and a Tennessee nursery in 1916.

Description: Fruit medium, roundish to slightly oblong, quite conical, often oblique; skin blushed and obscurely striped with light red; dots numerous, small, whitish and russet, often indented. Flesh crisp, juicy, fine-grained, almost sweet. Ripe late August/September.

History: A Lacy apple was listed without description by two Virginia nurseries in 1858 and 1869. This variety has been grown in Union County, North Carolina. Tim Vaughn of Monroe, North Carolina, says that his grandparents remember their grandparents growing Lacy apples.

Description: Fruit small to very small, usually oblate but sometimes roundish; skin smooth, glossy, bright red on the sunny side and yellowish on the other side or where shaded by a leaf; dots minute, whitish or with russet points. Flesh white, firm, fine-grained, crisp, juicy, aromatic, mild subacid to nearly sweet. Ripe late August/September in most of the South but later at higher elevations and latitudes.

History: Lady is an ancient French variety, dating back at least four hundred years. It has been grown in the American South for centuries, being listed in the earliest southern nursery catalogs.

Description: Medium size, roundish oblate; skin yellow with a pink blush on the sunny side; flesh crisp juicy, mildly acid. Ripe late September.

History: Trees of this apple were found by Tom Brown in both Canton and Clyde, North Carolina.

Description: Fruit medium or above, roundish to slightly oblate, usually ribbed; skin dull light green with occasionally a faint bronze blush on the sunny side; dots numerous, russet, usually areolar. Flesh fine-grained, moderately juicy, mild subacid. Ripe September but can be used for cooking and drying in July and August.

History: Originated before 1896 in Greene County, Tennessee, where it was known as Morgan.

Description: Fruit below medium size, roundish. Skin yellow with inconspicuous white dots. Ripens July.

Description: Fruit medium size or above, roundish; skin covered in dull, dark red; dots few, large, whitish. Flesh whitish, fine-grained, moderately crisp and juicy, sweet. Ripe late September/October.

History: Moses Lawson (d. 1934) grew this apple variety from a seed near Lawsonville in Stokes County, North Carolina, where the late Maurice Marshall found a single tree in 1995.

Description: Fruit medium to large, roundish or sometimes slightly oblate; skin rough, much covered with scarf skin, usually completely red, which may deepen to purple at the stem end; dots small and large, more numerous near the basin, whitish or russet. Flesh tinged yellowish or greenish, fine-grained, firm, crisp, juicy, subacid, somewhat aromatic. Ripe September/October and an excellent keeper.

History: The origin of Lawver has been variously assigned to Illinois, Missouri, or Kansas. An 1865 issue of Prairie Farmer magazine says: “Mr. George S. Park of Parkville, Missouri, is the originator of this fine apple which was grown from seed planted by a stump near his house, where the tree bore in five years.”

Description: Fruit almost large, oblate; skin greenish yellow, sometimes with a blush; dots numerous, dark and russet. Flesh greenish white, tender, juicy, subacid. Ripe August/September or later.

History: Lewis Green was mentioned briefly at the 1877 meeting of the American Pomological Society, and in 1904 it was said to have originated in Watauga County, North Carolina. It is still grown near Mars Hill in Madison County, North Carolina.

Description: Fruit medium or below medium, roundish to roundish conical. Skin yellow completely covered with red stripes, especially on sunny side. Sometimes with russet. Ripens July.

History: Lieby is a Russian variety of apple brought to the United States by the USDA in the 1870s. The 1894 annual report of the Minnesota State Horticultural Society states, "We have some very hardy and good apples among the Russians. Take the Hibernal or Lieby for one...They are as hardy as Duchess, and early and abundant bearers."

Description: An apple of striking beauty with its purple color and white dots. Very juicy and of excellent quality. Very rich flavor, rated tops for fresh eating. Keeps all winter. Weeping type.

Description: Fruit small, oblate, conical, often oblique; skin smooth, mostly covered with plum red; dots few, large, whitish. Flesh whitish, moderately juicy and crisp, subacid. Tree is very low-vigor but has a good growth form and is a consistent bearer. Ripe August.

History: In 1995, Bertie Hall of Grantsboro, North Carolina wrote, “Little Benny is a local apple used to be found in a 50 to 75 mile radius, which is about as far distant as anyone ever went back then.” Grantsboro is in extreme eastern North Carolina, so obviously Little Benny is well adapted to the coastal plains of the South.

Description: Fruit medium to large, roundish conical, flattened on both ends; skin thin, smooth, polished, clear pale yellow overlaid with stripes of bright red that are heavier on the sunny side; dots small and greenish. Flesh white tinged red, fine-grained, very tender, juicy, sprightly subacid. Ripe July.

History: A Russian apple brought to the United States about 1883. It gets its name from the Russian province of Lievland (Livonia, now Lithuania), which borders the Baltic Sea.

Description: Fruit small to medium, conical and lightly ribbed at the eye. Skin thick, greenish-yellow maturing to pale yellow, sometimes with a faint blush where exposed to the sun. Lenticles sparse, green, usually indented. Flesh white, somewhat coarse grained and soft, juicy, slightly tart and sweet.

History: Grown in 1911 from Yellow Transparent x Montgomery at the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station in Geneva, New York. Introduced in 1924. 

Description from pomiferous.com.

Description: Fruit medium, roundish, somewhat lobed; skin clear yellow; dots numerous, medium size, whitish. Ripe July.

History: The circa-1900 catalog of Fought Branch Nurseries of Rockingham County, Virginia, lists a Long Stem.

Description: Fruit large, roundish to somewhat oblong, conical; skin pale green mostly covered with light red and obscure darker stripes; dots numerous, gray and greenish. Flesh rather soft, moderately juicy, mild subacid. Ripe July/August.

History: Herbert Childress of Dunnville, Kentucky sent Lee Calhoun scions of this tree in 1996 with a note saying “I don’t know the real name as I got the wood from an old tree on a homestead that once belonged to Lonnie Luttrell." A huge summer apple with pale pink stripes. Flavor so-so.

Description: Fruit medium, roundish, slightly conical, flattened on the ends; skin dark mahogany red with numerous and conspicuous whitish specks or dots. Flesh yellowish, crisp, juicy, mild subacid. Ripe September/October and a rather good keeper in refrigeration.

History: John Lowry of Afton, Virginia, originated this apple on his farm about 1850 and sent several of his apples to the USDA in 1897. Lowry was sold from 1913 to 1928 by Virginia nurseries.

Description: Fruit medium or above, roundish or sometimes slightly oblong, conical; skin mostly covered with dark red with indistinct darker red stripes; dots numerous, minute, white or tan. Flesh yellowish, juicy, fine-grained, crisp, subacid. Ripe September.

History: A local apple grown for many years in the Sinking Creek area of Craig County, Virginia, and one of the old apple varieties collected and preserved by the late Holland Caldwell in his orchard in Sinking Creek.