Duchess of Oldenburg

Duchess of Oldenburg
Species	Apple
Trees Found	1
Orchards	Cyrus
Preserved	Clarno Arboretum(2025)

Duchess of Oldenburg is a heritage apple variety preserved in Central Oregon orchards. Read the full entry: Duchess of Oldenburg on the Variety Finder for deeper history, every book quote, and all nursery catalog references.

Quick Facts

Type	Apple
Season	Early (Early (mid-August))
Flavor	tart, subacid, aromatic
Flavor notes	Distinctly tart/sharp; lemony and herbaceous; yellowish, crisp, tender, juicy flesh
Uses	cooking, pies, sauce, baking, fresh eating
Keeping quality	Poor
Size	Above Medium
Shape	Round
Skin color	striped red, yellow, green, red, crimson, striped, pale
Flesh	Yellow fine
Origin	Tula, Russia, c. 1780. Tula region south of Moscow, Russia; originated late 1700s

Synonyms

Barovski, Barowiski, Borovitsky, Borowicki, Borowitski, Borowitsky, Charlamowiski, Charlamowski d'Automne, Charlamowskircher Nalleoid, Charlamowsky, Charlmowsky, Duchess, Duchess of Oldenburgh, Duchesse d'Oldenbourg, Dutchess, Dutchess of Oldenberg, Dutchess of Oldenburgh, New Brunswick, Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Duchess of, Oldenburg, Duchess of,, Oldenburgh

Origin and History

Duchess of Oldenburg is a Russian apple, known throughout the West either by the name Duchess or by the full name Duchess of Oldenburg; the American Pomological Society abbreviated the full name to Oldenburg, but this was not generally accepted by Western fruit growers. In European nurseries it is propagated under the names Charlamowsky and Borowitsky.

It is one of the four pioneer Russian apples introduced into America, the others being Alexander, Tetofsky, and Red Astrachan. These four varieties were imported by the Massachusetts Horticultural Society from the London (England) Horticultural Society about 1835 (Hedrick gives the import date as 1835). Oldenburg had been brought to England from Russia about twenty years prior to that, i.e. roughly 1815. It was tested by Robert Manning, Superintendent of the Test Garden of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society at Salem, who published a description in 1838: "A valuable and handsome apple said to be of Russian origin. The size is middling, form round and rather flat; skin of a beautiful yellow, striped with red; flavor very pleasant and good. It bears well and ripens in September and October." In 1850 Hovey wrote, "Mr. Manning, we believe, first proved the Duchess of Oldenburg and gave a brief account of it in his Book of Fruits. Since then it has been considerably disseminated, and though yet far from being common is to be found in many fine collections of fruit."

The variety was later disseminated throughout the Middle West and Northwest, where it proved much superior in hardiness to Baldwin, Rhode Island Greening, Northern Spy, and other commonly cultivated sorts. Its extreme hardiness in the early test winters kept up the hopes of prairie orchardists in times of great discouragement and led to importations of further Russian varieties, some of which proved valuable in the northern portion of the apple belt. It became popular with settlers on the prairies of Illinois, Iowa, and other north-central states where winters are severe (Lowther). Budd-Hansen call it "the hardiest of the old list." Hedrick describes it as "preeminently an apple of commerce" that thrives north and south, east and west, on many soils, but always requires good care. Oldenburg is commonly listed by nurserymen, and its planting both in home orchards and in commercial orchards was increasing in New York at the time of Beach's writing.

Fruit

Size and form. Medium to large, averaging above medium; uniform in size and shape. Budd-Hansen simply call it "large." Form roundish-oblate to oblate (Lowther: roundish to oblate; Hedrick: round-oblate or oblate), regular, symmetrical. A handsome fruit (Budd-Hansen).

Stem. Short to sometimes medium, moderately slender (Hedrick: short, slender).

Cavity. Acute to acuminate (Budd-Hansen: acute), deep, broad, usually partly covered with greenish-russet. Budd-Hansen describe it as "deep, regular, acute, small radiating patch of russet in bottom" and characterize the cavity itself as "small."

Calyx. Medium to rather large (Hedrick: large; Beach: medium to rather large), usually closed; lobes rather broad, acute. Budd-Hansen: "calyx closed; segments long, broad, connivent."

Basin. Moderately deep to deep, wide, abrupt, smooth or with small mammiform protuberances (Budd-Hansen: "basin abrupt, regular, small protuberances around the eye").

Skin. Moderately thick (Hedrick: thick), tender, smooth, pale greenish-yellow or pale yellow, almost covered with irregular splashes and stripes of bright red mottled and shaded with crimson. Budd-Hansen: "surface smooth, greenish yellow, almost wholly covered with stripes and splashes, mixed on sunny side with crimson." Prevailing effect red-striped; attractive.

Dots. Scattering, small, light colored. Budd-Hansen: "dots white, numerous, minute."

Flesh and flavor. Tinged with yellow (Hedrick: yellow; Budd-Hansen: white), rather firm (Hedrick: firm), moderately fine (Hedrick: fine), crisp, tender, juicy, sprightly subacid, aromatic. Budd-Hansen describe the flesh simply as "white, sprightly acid." Good to very good for culinary purposes. Beach notes that "it has too much acidity for a good dessert apple"; Hedrick calls the apples "handsome and well flavored, being especially suitable for culinary uses."

Core and seeds. Calyx tube moderately long (Hedrick: long), rather wide, funnel-shape with broad truncate cylinder or approaching urn-shape. Stamens median. Core medium to rather large (Hedrick: large; Budd-Hansen: closed), axile; cells symmetrical, closed or slightly open. Core lines clasping. Carpels broadly ovate, slightly emarginate (Hedrick: emarginate; Budd-Hansen: cells "ovate, axile"). Seeds medium to rather large (Hedrick: large), wide, obtuse to acute (Hedrick: obtuse), moderately plump (Hedrick: plump), dark brown.

Season

Late August and September (Beach, Hedrick). Lowther: ripens in the northern states about the last of August and the first of September. Budd-Hansen: August. Manning's 1838 account gave "September and October." The fruit ripens in succession, so several pickings are required to secure the crop in prime marketable condition. It may be used for culinary purposes before it is fully ripe.

Uses

Generally highly esteemed for home use on account of its excellent culinary qualities; "a good cooker" (Lowther). With some fruit growers it has proved a very profitable variety for the commercial orchard. When properly grown and carefully handled it stands shipment pretty well and sells well for a variety of its season. In some few localities in Western New York it is grown in sufficient quantities so that it can be shipped in car lots to distant markets, but in many places it is produced in greater quantities than the local markets can absorb and yet not in quantities large enough to be economically shipped to distant markets. Since the fruit is quite perishable it does not stand heat well before shipment and goes down rather quickly, particularly if the weather is unfavorable; when sent to distant markets it should be shipped under ice. Lowther similarly states the fruit "is perishable and does not stand shipment well, but when carefully handled it may be considered a fair commercial variety for its season." It is quite uniform in size and quality, with but a small percentage of loss from unmarketable fruit. Hedrick adds it is "preeminently an apple of commerce."

USDA Bulletin 56 Notes

USDA name: New Brunswick

USDA citations: RNY'71

Sources

• S.A. Beach, The Apples of New York Vol. 2 (1905). Public domain.
• J.L. Budd & N.E. Hansen, American Horticultural Manual, Part II: Systematic Pomology (1914). Public domain.
• Granville Lowther (ed.), Encyclopedia of Practical Horticulture (1914). Public domain.
• U.P. Hedrick, Cyclopedia of Hardy Fruits (1922). Public domain.
• Full entry with all citations: Duchess of Oldenburg on the Variety Finder

Trees of this Variety in Our Collection

	Orchard	Tag	Condition
Cyrus Tree 22	Cyrus	22	fair