Plate XVII. 
4. WHITE SPANISH REINETTE. 
|_Syn : Comuesar ; Reinette blanche d’'Espagne; Reinette d'Espagne ; Reinette tendre ; Josephine; 
Belle Josephine ; De Rattecm ; Concombre ancien .] 
The history of this valuable old variety is quite lost. It is said to be the national apple of 
Spain with the name “ Camussar ,” and has been known there from great antiquity. The 
date of its introduction to England is not known, but it was exhibited at the Horticultural 
Society by Mr. John Darby in 1829, from some very ancient trees then growing in Sussex. It is 
■ \ ~ 
figured by Lindley, PI. no. 
Description. —Fruit : very large, three inches and a half wide, and three inches and three 
quarters high ; oblato-oblong, angular on the sides and uneven at the crown, where it is nearly as 
broad as at the base. Skin: smooth and unctuous to the touch; yellowish green in the shade, but orange 
tinted with brownish red next the sun, and strewed with dark dots. Eye : large and open, set in a 
deep, angular and irregular basin. Stalk : half an inch long, inserted in a narrow and even cavity. 
Flesh : yellowish white, tender, juicy and sugary. 
An apple of first rate quality suitable for dessert, but more especially for culinary purposes. 
It is in season from December to March or even April. The tree is healthy and vigorous in growth 
and an excellent bearer. It does best in a dry, warm and loamy soil, a characteristic which its name 
at once suggests. It is better adapted for dwarf, or espalier growth from the size and weight of the 
fruit. The general appreciation of this apple is shown by the wide extent of its growth and the 
great variety of its synonyms. “ Its principal defect” says Dr. Lindley is its gigantic size. 
