Apple Index - "Red Reese to Rusty Coat"
Red Reese (Reese Red)
Description: Fruit medium or above, roundish to oblong and very conical; skin partly to mostly covered with lovely red; dots numerous, small to medium size, gray and russet. Flesh almost sweet. Ripe early October.
History: This apple originated in Randolph County, Alabama, and first fruited in 1911. Fruit resembles small Red Delicious apples.
Uses: Fresh Eating, Stores well
Red Royal Limbertwig
Description: Fruit medium or above, roundish conical, often lopsided; skin mostly covered with dull red; dots small, numerous, white. Flesh pale yellow, crisp, moderately juicy, rather coarse, almost sweet. Ripe September/October.
History: Unknown origin but sold by Henry Morton.
Uses: Multipurpose, Stores well
Regent
Description: Fruit medium, roundish to oblong, conical; skin tough, glossy, light yellow with bright red and redder stripes, often completely red; dots white or corky, rather small. Flesh creamy white, crisp, very juicy; “flavor suggestive of Delicious but more sprightly.” Ripe September/October.
History: The Tennessee apple hunter Don Stocker found Regent trees several places in his state. It is not a very old apple but is rare in the South. Regent originated as a cross of Red Duchess x Delicious made in 1924 at the University of Minnesota Fruit Breeding Farm.
Uses: Fresh Eating, Cooking
Reverend Morgan
Description: Fruit medium or above, roundish conical; skin pale greenish mostly covered with pinkish red; dots numerous, rather large, whitish. Flesh whitish, crisp, juicy, fine-grained, mild subacid. Ripe August.
History: The southern apple is not old, but its quality and adaptability to warmer areas of the South make it worthy of preservation. It originated in 1972 in Houston, Texas (Zone 9) and is named for Rev. Herman T. Morgan (b. 1894), the Methodist minister who first grew this apple. It is believed to be a seedling of Granny Smith.
Uses: Cooking, Fresh Eating
Rexrode Beauty
Description: Fruit almost large, roundish, flattened on the ends; skin mostly covered with light red or an orangish red blush; dots large and small, numerous, whitish. Ripe October.
History: The family who shared the remaining Rexrode Beauty tree tells the story of an ancestor who walked thirty miles from Elkins to Buckhannon, West Virginia, to obtain scions.
Roanoke
Description: Fruit round; skin almost entirely red; flesh firm, mild subacid. Ripe September.
History: This variety was bred by Dr. George D. Oberle at VPI. A cross of Red Rome x Schoharie introduced in 1967.
Uses: Fresh Eating, Stores well
Rockingham Red (Allum, Hallum, Alum)
Description: Fruit medium or below, roundish, irregular and often lopsided; skin rough, greenish, mostly covered with a purplish-red blush and scarf skin, often with a grayish bloom; dots numerous, tan. Flesh greenish, fine-grained, moderately juicy, crisp, subacid. Ripe September/October.
History: First mentioned as having been planted in a North Carolina orchard in 1843 where the fruit was valued for its keeping qualities. An 1874 letter from Joshua Lindley, the prominent North Carolina nurseryman, states that Hallum was the original name, being the name of the originator in Rockingham County, North Carolina.
Uses: Multipurpose, Stores well
Rocky River Limbertwig
Description: Fruit medium to above medium; roundish to slightly roundish conical; skin yellow completely covered with stripes of dark reds; dots white, raised, somewhat large. Ripens October.
Scions came from Carey Wilson of Anderson, South Carolina.
Uses: Multipurpose, Stores well
Roman Stem
Description: Fruit medium, roundish; skin pale greenish, often with bronzing or pale pink on the sunny side and often with some russet patches. Flesh tender, juicy, almost sweet. Ripe September.
History: This apple originated in New Jersey before 1868 and was sold by a nursery in Arkansas in the early 1900s.
Uses: Fresh Eating, Does not store well
Rome Beauty (Rome, Gillett's Seedling, Foust's Rome Beauty, Phoenix, Royal Red, Starbuck, Roman Beauty)
Description: Fruit large, sometimes very large, usually roundish but sometimes oblate or oblong, conical; skin thick, tough, smooth, alomost entirely covered with bright red and striped with carmine; dots numerous, whitish or russet; stem long and slender in a wide, usually deep, greenish cavity; basin rather narrow, deep, abrupt. Ripe September/October.
History: Originated when Zebulon and Joel Gillett and their brother-in-law Nathanial Pritchard bought trees from Israel Putnam, a nurseryman in Marietta, Ohio around 1817. They took the trees to Rome Township Ohio where they were planted. The legend is that Joel Gillett pulled off a partially rooted sprout from below the graft and gave it to his son Alanson who planted it in the corner of the orchard, and within a few years it began bearing large, red apples. It was named after the township it first grew.
Uses: Fresh Eating, Cooking, Drying, Stores well
Roxbury Russet (Boston Russet, Putnam Russet, Howe’s Russet, Belpre Russet, Marietta Russet, Russet Golden, Sylvan Russet, Warner Russet, Leather Coat, Shippen’s Russet, Russet, Warren Russet)
Description: Fruit medium, sometimes larger, variable in shape but usually roundish conical; skin dull green mostly covered with a rough yellowish brown russet, sometimes with a bronze or reddish blush on the sunny side; dots numerous, tan. Flesh greenish white, moderately juicy, firm, somewhat coarse, breaking, sprightly subacid. Ripe September/October.
History: Roxbury Russet is the oldest American apple, originating in Roxbury, Massachusetts, within twenty years of the arrival of the Pilgrims. It was taken to Connecticut in 1649, and in the late 1700s was introduced into the Ohio Valley under the names Putnam Russet, Marietta Russet, and other synonyms. Although not of southern origin, Roxbury Russet was a widely grown russet in the South. Old trees are still encountered in the mountains of North Carolina and Virginia.
Uses: Multipurpose, Stores well
Royal Limbertwig
Description: Fruit above medium to large, roundish, somewhat conical, often oblique; skin greenish yellow partly to mostly covered with light or dull red, sometimes with some indistinct red stripes; dots large, russet or white. Flesh yellowish, rather fine-grained, juicy, tender, mild subacid. Ripe early October.
History: Royal Limbertwig was widely sold by southern nurseries. The fruit does not keep as well as Red Limbertwig, but Royal Limbertwig seems to be better adapted to warmer areas of the South.
Uses: Multipurpose, Stores well
Ruby Limbertwig
A very obscure Limbertwig from the collection of the late Robert Dudney of Gainesboro, Tennessee. Ruby Limbertwig is like many of the fine Limbertwig varieties which arose in very remote areas of the Appalachians. Though extremely popular within their area of origin, they were rarely listed in regional or local nursery catalogs and so have incomplete or unknown histories. Ruby Limbertwig is an especially attractive apple with the distinctive earthy, musky flavor typical of Limbertwigs. Fruit is medium, roundish with rich, ruby-red skin. Ripens in October and is a good keeper.
Uses: Multipurpose, Stores well
Description from Big Horse Creek Farm at bighorsecreekfarm.com.
Russet Sheepnose (Black Gilliflower, Red Gilliflower, Gilliflower, Black Spitz, Long Gilliflower, Black Sheepnose, Sheepnose, Black Annie, Crow’s Egg, Winter Pear)
Description: Fruit medium to large, very oblong and very conical; skin dark, dull red, obscurely striped, often with scarf skin; dots numerous, gray, inconspicuous. Flesh greenish white, firm, rather coarse, moderately juicy becoming dry, aromatic, almost sweet. When ripe, this apple can have a grape flavor or even banana. The flesh turns extremely mealy when allowed to over-ripen. Ripe September/October.
History: This is a very old variety known in Connecticut in the early 1700s. Perhaps its most distinctive feature is the shape of the fruit, being very oblong and tapering down to a narrow point at the blossom end.
Uses: Fresh Eating, Cooking, Drying, Does not keep well
Rusty Coat (Andrews)
Description: Fruit small, roundish; skin covered with a tan russet; dots not visible. Flesh fine-grained, crisp, moderately juicy, mild subacid. Ripe late July.
History: None of the old pomological references lists or describes an apple named Rusty Coat, and the only southern catalog listing is by a 1916 Tennessee nursery. A listing of apple trees planted in 1843 at the Snow Hill plantation near Durham, North Carolina, includes Rusty Coat. Lee Calhoun found an old apple tree near Andrews Store in Chatham County, North Carolina, called Rusty Coat by its owner, and which is listed here as Rusty Coat (Andrews).
Uses: Cooking, Cider, Drying