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["Brungardt, Sam" <Sam.Brungardt@state.mn.us>]

Title: Message

Sounds like a chimera.  I believe they are not that rare in citrus. -- Sam Brungardt, St. Paul, Minn.

 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: nafex-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org [mailto:nafex-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of mIEKAL aND
Sent: Thursday, October 01, 2009 3:09 PM
To: North American Fruit Explorers
Subject: [NAFEX] Million to one apple is half red, half green

> (the picture online is a bit hard to 
>   believe)
>
>
> Million to one apple is half red, half 
>   green
>
> Published: 7:00AM BST 25 Sep 2009
>
> http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/6229243/Million-to-one-apple-is-half-red-half-green.html
>
> Fruit 
>   grower Ken Morrish was left stunned when he found a golden delicious apple on 
>   his tree split exactly half green, half red down the middle.
>
> The 
>   fruit's striking colouring is thought to be caused by a random genetic 
>   mutation at odds of more than a million to one.
>
> The apple has caused 
>   such a stir in the village of Colaton Raleigh, Devon, that Mr Morrish is 
>   inundated with neighbours queuing up to take pictures of it.
>
> Mr 
>   Morrish, 72, who has been harvesting the apples from trees in his garden for 
>   45 years, said: "It's truly amazing.
>
> "It looks as if a green apple and 
>   a red apple has been cut in half and stuck together."
>
> He said that he 
>   was out picking a few apples for his sister-in-law when he spotted the fruit 
>   hanging from a bough.
>
> Mr Morrish, a retired painter and decorator, 
>   added: "I couldn't believe my eyes. The red and green split through the stem 
>   is totally perfect – as if I've painted it.
>
> "It's a genuine one-off and 
>   none of us have ever seen an apple like it before."
>
> Experts believe 
>   that the odds of finding an apple with such a perfect line between the green 
>   and the red are more than a million to one.
>
> In such cases, the red side 
>   usually tastes sweeter than the green side – because it has seen more sunshine 
>   during its growth.
>
> John Breach, chairman of the British Independent 
>   Fruit Growers Association, told the Daily Mail: "I've never seen this happen 
>   before to a golden delicious. It is extremely rare. It is an extreme 
>   mutation.
>
> "There has been the occasional case of this type reported. If 
>   there was a whole branch of apples with the same colouring then fruit experts 
>   would get even more excited."
>
> Jim Arbury, fruit superintendent at RHS 
>   Garden Wisley in Surrey, said it was probably the "result of a random genetic 
>   mutation".
>
> "This is known as a chimera where one of the first two cells 
>   has developed differently giving rise to one half of the apple being 
>   different," he said.
>
> "It is unlikely to be a stable mutation but it is 
>   worth checking next year to see if it recurs. There are instances of some 
>   striped apples and pears where the mutation remains stable including one 
>   striped pear in the collection at Wisley called 
> Pysanka."