Duncan

Duncan Apple

Origin/History

An apple of the Newtown Spitzenburg class, closely resembling that variety in appearance and quality. References trace to the Catalogue of the Horticultural Society of London (1831) and to Downing (1872). The American stock was received for testing at the New York State Station from B. Buckman, of Farmingdale, Illinois, and had been disseminated to some extent in portions of the Ohio valley. Whether the American variety is identical with the English variety of this name has not been determined (Beach).

Tree

Tree small, moderately vigorous; branches short, stout, crooked; laterals willowy and small, slender. Form upright spreading to roundish, dense. Twigs short to above medium, rather slender, straight, moderately stout; internodes short. Bark dull reddish-brown, mingled with olive-green, with thin coat of scarf-skin; slightly pubescent. Lenticels scattering, small, round, not raised. Buds small, plump, obtuse, appressed, deeply set in bark; somewhat pubescent. The tree comes into bearing young and is almost an annual bearer, but yields heavier crops in alternate years (Beach).

Fruit

Size and Form: Downing describes the fruit as medium, roundish oblate conical, and ribbed. Beach describes it as below medium or small, pretty uniform in size and shape, roundish, pretty symmetrical, with sides sometimes unequal. [The two sources conflict on size: Downing gives medium; Beach gives below medium or small.]

Stem: Stem medium (Beach).

Cavity: Acuminate to acute, symmetrical, moderately deep, sometimes furrowed, rarely russeted (Beach).

Calyx: Closed or partly open; lobes long, acute (Beach). Calyx tube short to long, moderately wide, cone-shape or somewhat funnelform. Stamens median to marginal (Beach).

Basin: Obtuse, shallow, irregularly furrowed and wrinkled (Beach).

Skin: Downing describes the color as yellow, with rich deep red in the sun. Beach describes it as green or pale yellow, striped with carmine over a thin dull blush, and conspicuously marked with large, irregular, whitish dots; notes that the color is often not well developed and not particularly attractive.

Flesh and Flavor: Downing describes the flesh as yellowish white, crisp, juicy, and pleasantly acid. Beach describes it as whitish with a yellow tinge, moderately firm, fine-grained, tender, crisp, very juicy, with an agreeable mild subacid flavor mingled with sweet; quality good to very good when well grown. [The two sources are in general agreement on texture but differ slightly on flavor character: Downing emphasizes acid; Beach emphasizes mild subacid mingled with sweet.]

Core and Seeds: Core medium, axile or somewhat abaxile; core lines meeting or clasping; cells sometimes unsymmetrical, closed or partly open. Carpels broad, roundish, smooth, emarginate. Seeds medium or below, broad, dark, acute to obtuse (Beach).

Season

The two sources conflict on season. Downing (citing Hogg) gives November to January. Beach gives January to May, indicating an excellent keeping apple.

Uses

Well suited for dessert use when well grown, rating good to very good in quality. An excellent keeper. As grown at the New York State Station it averaged too small for a good commercial apple and was not recommended for planting in New York (Beach).

Other

Beach classes this variety in the Newtown Spitzenburg group, noting it closely resembles that variety in the appearance and quality of its fruit; when well developed it is rather attractive in color. The American and English varieties of this name may or may not be identical (Beach).