Lady Finger
Apple
Lady Finger
[NOTE: Source text may be incorrect — the sources describe several distinct varieties under the name Lady Finger: Coxe's long, early-winter Lady Finger or Long Pippin; Elliott's oblong November–December apple; the apples Hogg describes; and the roundish-conical August apple Downing received from Maryland. The details below are attributed so these different fruits can be told apart.]
Origin / History
Lady Finger was described by Coxe (1817) under the name Lady Finger or Long Pippin. Thacher (1822) describes a long, tapering Lady Finger. Elliott (1854) describes Lady Finger with Sheep Nose as a synonym. Hogg (1884) describes, under this name, a dull greenish-yellow apple in season from November to March. He also describes a Lady's Finger of Hereford and a Lady's Finger of Lancaster. Downing (1869) received an apple under this name from Maryland, which Beach calls "still another variety."
Hooper (1857) recognizes Lady Finger as a synonym of Kaighn. Downing calls this erroneous and gives Red Winter Pearmain as the correct name for the apple Hooper so called. Warder (1867) and Downing both connect Red Lady Finger with Red Winter Pearmain. Warder also connects Lady Finger Pippin with Red Winter Pippin. Hogg connects a Lady's Finger of Kent with Smart's Prince Arthur and a Lady's Finger with White Paradise. Thomas (1897) likewise connects Lady Finger with White Paradise.
Beach (1905): "Several different varieties of apples are known in cultivation under the name Lady Finger but none of these is grown to any considerable extent in New York."
Tree
Tree of very delicate growth, with small limbs (Coxe). An abundant bearer (Coxe; Thacher).
Fruit
Size: Medium (Elliott; Downing's Maryland apple). Hogg's apple is below medium.
Form: Oblong and pointed towards the blossom end; long and tapering. Coxe calls it "more remarkably long than any apple I have seen." Hogg's apple is pyramidal and rounded at the base. Downing's Maryland apple is roundish conical.
Stem: Short (Downing's Maryland apple).
Cavity: Rather deep (Downing's Maryland apple).
Calyx: Closed (Downing's Maryland apple).
Basin: Large, deep, corrugated (Downing's Maryland apple).
Skin: Greenish yellow to pale yellow. Elliott adds a faint blush; Beach's quotation of Elliott's 1854 text reads "often blushed." Thacher's fruit is "of a beautiful yellow and red color." Hogg's apple is dull greenish yellow, with a dull blush and spots of lively red in the sun. Downing's Maryland apple is yellowish, shaded over the whole surface with deep crimson.
Dots: Minute, gray, russety (Hogg's apple). Downing's Maryland apple is thinly sprinkled with light dots.
Flesh and flavor: Flesh firm, watery (Elliott). The flavor is pleasant, "but much inferior in flavour to the Newton pippin" (Coxe), and "well flavored" (Thacher). Hogg's apple has flesh that is yellow, tender, juicy, and pleasantly acid. Downing's Maryland apple has flesh that is white, tender, and moderately juicy, with a pleasant subacid flavor; Downing rates it "Good to very good."
Core and seeds: Core small (Downing's Maryland apple).
Season
The recorded season runs from August into June. The long Lady Finger is an early winter fruit: Elliott gives November and December, and Hogg's apple runs November to March. On keeping, the sources conflict. Coxe says it "does not keep well," while Thacher's fruit "keeps till June." Downing's Maryland apple ripens in August.
Uses
Hogg's Lady's Finger of Lancaster is a culinary apple, and his Lady's Finger of Hereford is a cider apple.
Subtypes / Variants
Hogg separates a Lady's Finger of Hereford, which is red, from a Lady's Finger of Lancaster, which is greenish yellow and in season November to March. Downing's Maryland Lady Finger is a distinct August apple. Beach (1905) describes it separately from the Lady Fingers he discusses among the winter apples.
Other
Not described in source.
Book Sources
Described in 5 period pomological works
Nursery Catalog Sources
Found in 4 catalogs (1845–1901) from Alabama, Illinois, Massachusetts
- Winship's Nursery (Brighton Nurseries , operated by the Winship family), Brighton (Boston) , Massachusetts — 1845 — listed as Long Pippin
- Huntsville Wholesale Nurseries (Jessie S. Moss , Proprietor; W.F. Heikes, Manager), Huntsville , Alabama — 1886
- Central Experimental Farm , Dominion Department of Agriculture, Agassiz, British Columbia (under test; Bulletin No. 3, Second Series) — 1900
- Benjamin Buckman (personal inventory) , Farmingdale , Illinois — 1901
View original book sources (5)
— William Coxe, A View of the Cultivation of Fruit Trees (1817)No. 80. Lady Finger.
[Additional entry in this volume: "Lady Finger, Or Long Pippin", pp. 219–220]
NO. 80. LADY FINGER, OR LONG PIPPIN.
The form is oblong and pointed towards the blossom end, more remarkably long than any apple I have seen—the skin is a greenish yellow; the flesh pleasant, but much inferior in flavour to the Newton pippin; it is an early winter fruit: does not keep well, but is an abundant bearer: the tree is of very delicate growth, with small limbs.
— F.R. Elliott, The Western Fruit Book (1865)Lady Finger. Sheep Nose. Medium, oblong, pale yellow, faint blush ; flesh, firm, watery. November, December.
— A.J. Downing, The Fruits and Fruit Trees of America (1900)Lady Finger.
Under this name Hogg describes an Apple as : Fruit below medium, pyramidal, rounded at base, dull greenish yellow, with minute gray russety dots, dull blush and spots of lively red in the sun. Flesh yellow, tender, juicy, pleasantly acid. November to March.
Coxe describes an apple as Lady Finger or Long Pippin, as remarkably long, greenish yellow. Flesh pleasant, early winter, but does not keep well.
Elliott describes under name of Lady Finger, synonym Sheep Nose, an apple as medium size, oblong, pale yellow, faint blush. Flesh firm, watery. November, December.
We have also received an apple from Maryland under this name which is of medium size, roundish conical, yellowish, shaded over the whole surface with deep crimson, thinly sprinkled with light dots. Stalk short. Cavity rather deep. Calyx closed. Basin large, deep, corrugated. Flesh white, tender, moderately juicy, pleasant subacid. Good to very good. Core small. August.
— S.A. Beach, The Apples of New York, Vol. 1 (1905)LADY FINGER.
REFERENCES. 1. Coxe, 1817:146. fig. 2. Thacher, 1822:129. 3. Elliott, 1854:173. 4. Hooper, 1857:52. 5. Warder, 1867:724. 6. Downing, 1869:245, 329. 7. Ib., 1876:55 app. 8. Hogg, 1884:127. 9. Bailey, An. Hort., 1892:243. 10. Thomas, 1897:642.
Several different varieties of apples are known in cultivation under the name Lady Finger but none of these is grown to any considerable extent in New York. Coxe (1) describes Lady Finger or Long Pippin as a variety of very delicate growth with small limbs, fruit remarkably long, skin greenish-yellow, season early winter. Thacher's (2) description of Lady Finger is that it "is a long, tapering fruit, of a beautiful yellow and red color. It is well flavored, keeps till June. The tree bears abundantly."
Elliott (3) describes Lady Finger, synonym Sheepnose, "as medium, oblong, pale yellow, often blushed. Flesh firm, watery. Season November, December."
Hooper (4) recognizes Lady Finger as a synonym of Kaighn, but erroneously, according to Downing, who gives Red Winter Pearmain as the correct name for this variety.
Warder (5) gives Red Lady Finger as a synonym of Red Winter Pearmain and Lady Finger Pippin as a synonym of Red Winter Pippin.
Downing (6, 7) recognizes the varieties described under the name Lady Finger by Hogg, Coxe, and Elliott as mentioned above and adds the description of still another variety which he received under this name from Maryland, the fruit of which is roundish conical, yellowish, shaded with deep crimson, subacid, good to very good; season August. He also gives Lady Finger as an erroneous synonym for Kaighn and Red Lady Finger as a synonym for Red Winter Pearmain.
Hogg (8) describes a red cider apple under the name Lady's Finger of Hereford and a greenish-yellow culinary apple in season from November to March under the name Lady's Finger of Lancaster. He also gives Lady's Finger of Kent as a synonym for Smart's Prince Arthur, and Lady's Finger as a synonym for White Paradise.
Thomas (10) gives Lady Finger as a synonym of White Paradise.
— S.A. Beach, The Apples of New York, Vol. 2 (1905)LADY FINGER.
REFERENCE. 1. Downing, 1869:245.
SYNONYMS. None.
Under this name Downing (1) describes an apple which he received from Maryland, the fruit of which is of medium size, yellowish, nearly overspread with deep crimson; flesh white, tender, pleasant subacid, good to very good; season August.
Other varieties have been known under the name Lady Finger several of which have already been mentioned in the discussion of the winter apples. See Vol. I, page 183.