PLATE XLI. 
5. CORNISH GILLIFLOWER. 
[Syn : Calville d'Angleterre.~\ 
This distinct and valuable Apple was discovered about the beginning of the present century 
(1800) growing in a cottage garden, near.Truro, in Cornwall. It was first brought into notice by 
Sir Christopher Hawkins, who sent it in 1813 to the London Horticultural Society, and was 
awarded a silver medal for it. 
The name “ Gilliflower” is derived from the French word “girofle,” signifying a clove, 
and hence the flower which has the scent of that spice is called “ Gir0flierf and this has been 
transformed to “ Gillijlower. In Chaucer’s “ Romaunt of the Rose ” he writes it “ Gylofre ” / 
“There was eke wexyng many a spice, 
As Clowe Gylofre and liquorice.” 
Turner writes it “ Gelower ” and “ Gelyfloured The proper name therefore is “ Gilliflowerf and 
not fuly flower ,” as if it had any reference to the month of July. 
It is well figured by Ronalds, PI. xix., fig, 4. 
Description .—Fruit : large, ovate and angular on the sides and ribbed round the eye, 
somewhat like a Quoining. Skin : dull green on the shaded side, and brownish red streaked with 
brighter red on the side next the sun ; some parts of the surface marked with thin russet. Eye : 
large and closed, set in a narrow and angular basin. Stalk : three-quarters of an inch long, inserted 
in a rather shallow cavity. Flesh : yellowish, firm, rich and aromatic. 
This is one of the best dessert apples, remarkable for its rich and aromatic llavour. “ The 
best apple that is known,” says Lindley, “if high flavour combined with rich, subacid, saccharine 
juice, be the qualities we most desire in fruit.” 
The tree is hardy and a free grower. Its shoots are apt to be slender and irregular, and its 
leaves are remarkably long and narrow. It is in season from December to May. It bears shyly 
and produces its fruit chiefly at the extremities of the last year’s wood. Care must therefore 
be taken in pruning to preserve the bearing shoots. It is better grown as a standard, though on 
the paradise stock it succeeds as an espalier or dwarf standard. As a standard it often forms a very 
beautiful weeping head, resembling sometimes a weeping willow in growth, rather than an apple 
tree. 
