THE BLOOMLESS APPLE. 



In tlie last July issue of The American Garden I 

 illusti'ated and described the flowers of the so- 

 called blooniless apple. It was found that the 

 flowers are destitute of colored petals, those organs 

 being reduced to green sepal-like bodies. The 

 stamens are wanting and the pistils are usually 

 fifteen. In the August issue Mr. Fuller supple- 

 mented the histor}' of this remarkable monstrosity. 

 An opportunity now presents itself to make a com- 

 plete characterization of the fruit. The fruits 

 were obtained from Mr. Robinette, of Flag Pond, 

 Virginia, who also contributed the flowers described 

 last summer. The apple is much the size and 

 shape of the Rambo. Its ground color is yellow- 

 ish green, over .^^^f^-P;^^'!^^;!!.,.. 

 which are ir- 

 regular and dull . 

 streaks of red. 

 The apex of the 

 apple presents 

 a singular cav- 

 ity which ex- 

 tends nearly or 

 quite half waj' 

 through the 

 fruit. Every al- : 

 ternate segment 

 oi the floral en- 

 V e 1 o p e s or ; 

 "calyx," is [ 

 thickened and | 

 somewhat e n- L. 

 larged. These 

 thickened por- 

 tions belong to 



the interior series of the envelope, and are 

 fore petals. The remaining segments differ 

 from the "calyx" divisions in ordinary a 

 Figure i affords an admirable illustration ( 

 general appearance of the fruit. 



When the apple is cut into halves — one of 

 is represented in figure 2 — it is found to posi 

 double core, one core standing above the ( 

 One or both of these cores may bear seeds, 

 the seeds are born in the upper core alon 

 have the condition which Mr. Robinette desc 

 in my contribution last summer: "These 



were not in the ordinary place, but were near the 

 skin, at the blossom end." The only reason why 

 this apple should not contain seeds lies in the fact 

 that the flowers have no stamens, and there can 

 therefore be no pollination by the same variety. 

 But pollen from other varieties may fertilize it and 

 cause it to set seeds in abundance. With the 

 growth of the apple, the cores, or some of them, 

 split open and cause the hoUowness of the fruit, b 

 and c in figure 2 designate the persistent points of 

 the core-walls, and a marks a thickened petal in the 

 "calyx." These points of the walls of the cores 

 are the bodies of which Mr. Van Deman refers in 

 the communication which follows this: "There 



Fig. I. Bloomless Apple of 1889. 



there- seemed to be two or three sets of sepals, one above 



little the other, instead of the normal five." The mor- 



pples. phology of the double core indicates that the cells 



af the assume this position because of the crowding con- 

 sequent upon their abnormal number. In the 



which flower the superimposed character of the cells is 



sess a scarcely evident. In the flower the cells are usu- 



Dther. ^'ly fifteen, but when the fruit has matured, some 



When of the cells are nearly or quite obliterated by the 



we crowding. 



:ribed The first record of this peculiar apple in Ameri- 



seeds can literature, so far as I have determined, is that 



