English Apples - Annie Elizabeth

Raised 1857 by Samuel Greatorex, magistrates clerk, Avenue Rd, Leicester. Named to commemmorate his illegitimate baby daughter who died 1866. Introduced by Harrisons a few years later.

Very firm, late cooking apple which keeps well. Tree is very upright in habit. Blossom is said in many reference books to be unusually pretty, and descriptions range from 'deep red' to 'deep pink' to 'maroon'. This is probably a mistake which has been copied from book to book.

I've seen the original tree and only the underside of the petals is pink; when the flower opens the upper surface of the petals is very pale pink; the blossom is virtually indistinguishable from that of a Bramley. Photographs are below.

Thought to be a Blenheim Orange seedling. G.D. adds: Large golden apple, with red sunny side. Crisp and cooks superbly. Can keep until June-July. The best keeper of all.

HOGG said the following in 1884:

ANNIE ELIZABETH. Fruit, large, round, widest at the base, prominently ribbed or angular. Skin, pale yellow on the shaded side,, streaked and spotted on the side next the sun with bright crimson. Eye, with connivent segments, deeply set in an irregular angular basin. Stamens, median ; tube, deep conical. Stalk, short, deeply set, frequently with a swelling on one side of it. Flesh, white, and of firm, yet crisp and tender texture, with a fine, brisk, sprightly flavour. Cells, obovate ; abaxile.

An excellent late kitchen or dessert apple. A seedling raised by Messrs. Harrison & Sons, of Leicester. Keceived a First Class Certificate from the Royal Horticultural Society, 1868.

Leicestershire Heritage Apples Project

Photos - Nigel Deacon & Mel Wilson

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