Henniker

Origin / History

An English apple of Suffolk, raised about the middle of the nineteenth century. Downing, after the Journal of Horticulture, says it was raised by John Perkins, Thornham Hall, Suffolk, England, and calls it "this new English apple." Bunyard says it was raised by Lord Henniker at Thornham Hill, Suffolk, about 1845. Beach, citing Hogg, gives its origin as between 1840 and 1850 in Suffolk, England. Downing and Bunyard describe it under the name "Lady Henniker."

The Royal Horticultural Society awarded it a first-class certificate in 1873 (Beach). Beach writes that it "has not been disseminated much in this country and is but little known in New York." He calls the fruit "of good size and excellent quality," but does not recommend it for planting in New York. Bunyard calls it "a good old sort still worth growing."

Tree

Vigorous, a strong grower, and healthy. Beach gives the form as roundish or spreading, rather dense. Bunyard calls the growth upright.

Branches short, moderately stout, curved, crooked. Twigs long to short, stout; internodes medium or below. Bark dark brown tinged with red or partly olive-green, distinctly mottled with gray scarf-skin, slightly pubescent. Lenticels rather numerous, scattering, medium to small, roundish, raised, moderately conspicuous. Buds medium, rather prominent, broad, plump, obtuse to acute, free, slightly pubescent (Beach). Leaf rather large, long, flat, sharply serrate, very dark green (Bunyard).

Productive: "a great bearer" to Downing, "fertile" to Bunyard. Beach qualifies this: the tree does not come into bearing very young but is quite productive in alternate years, and there is apt to be considerable loss from the dropping of the fruit. Veitch calls it "a fine pot grower."

Fruit

Size: Large to very large. Beach extends the range down to above medium and calls it fairly uniform in size. Bunyard gives 3½ by 2¼.

Form: Roundish, irregular, not very uniform in shape. It varies from oblate to roundish or roundish-oblong, often elliptical, and is sometimes slightly conic. Downing calls it angular, with prominent ridges around the eye. Beach finds it only rather obscurely ribbed.

Stem: Very short to moderately long, mostly short; moderately thick (Beach). Bunyard alone calls it moderately long.

Cavity: Deep and russeted. Wide according to Downing and Beach; Bunyard alone calls it rather narrow. Acuminate or somewhat acute, gently furrowed, often covered with outspreading russet (Beach).

Calyx: Medium to large. Downing calls it open, and Beach gives the lobes as partly open, broad, acute. Bunyard calls the eye closed. Calyx tube rather long, funnel-shaped; stamens median or below (Beach).

Basin: Rather shallow to very deep, medium to wide, and angular, furrowed, or boldly ribbed. Downing calls it very deep and angular, and Bunyard wide, deep, and boldly ribbed. Beach gives moderately deep to rather shallow, medium to rather wide, somewhat furrowed and wrinkled.

Skin: Rather tough. Ground yellow to rather deep or golden yellow. It is shaded, flushed, blushed, and mottled with pale red to bright red, with a few broad broken stripes or streaks. Downing gives the stripes as crimson on the sunny side; Beach gives them as carmine, sparingly striped. Beach finds the skin decidedly roughened with capillary netted russet lines, sometimes with broken patches of russet. He gives the prevailing effect as rather dull red somewhat mingled with yellow.

Dots: Rather large, russet (Beach).

Flesh and flavor: Flesh yellow or tinged with yellow, rather tender to "very tender in the grain" (Downing). Beach adds moderately coarse, somewhat crisp, and juicy. Flavor rich, brisk subacid, "with something of the flavor characteristic of certain russets," becoming rather mild late in the season (Beach). Downing calls it "well flavored, and with a pleasant perfume." Bunyard likens it to Blenheim: "Blenheim flavour." Quality "good to very good" (Beach).

Core and seeds: Core medium to small, axile. Cells unsymmetrical, often seedless, irregularly developed. Core lines clasping the funnel cylinder. Carpels broadly roundish or approaching obcordate, emarginate, tufted. Seeds few, medium or above, obtuse to acute, tufted (Beach).

Season

The recorded season runs from September into April. Three of the four sources open it in autumn, September to November, and close it in January or February. Beach alone carries it to March or April. Veitch calls it "good keeping."

Uses

Chiefly culinary. Downing calls it "chiefly valuable as a cooking variety, but useful also in the dessert." Beach finds it excellent for cooking but "at first rather too briskly acid to be desirable for a dessert apple." Veitch lists it as large and showy, "excellent for exhibition." Beach, by contrast, judges the fruit "not attractive enough in form and color to rank as a first-class commercial variety."

Subtypes / Variants

Not described in source.

Other

Figured in a colored plate in Gartenflora (1890), per Beach's references. Those references also include Downing (1876), Hogg (1884), Bailey's Annals of Horticulture (1892), Beach's New York Station report (1892), the Journal of the Royal Horticultural Society (1898), Powell and Fulton (U. S. B. P. I. Bulletin 48, 1903), and Beach and Clark (New York Station Bulletin 248, 1904). Bunyard cites it as "Her. Pom., 67."