North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Mark Lee" <markl@nytec.com>]

It is well known that apples don’t come true from seed.  The apple seedlings will rarely produce fruit that is the same as the mother tree.  An article I read today says this is because apples tend to result from cross-pollination, not self pollination.  I know that apples benefit from cross-pollination, but I don’t think that explains why apples vary so much between generations.  Can someone with a better grasp of genetics than I have explain what is going on.

-Mark Lee, Seattle