White Doctor
Apple
USDA Pomological Watercolor Collection
White Doctor
Origin/History
Originated in Pennsylvania. Considered a profitable market variety and valuable for culinary uses (Downing).
Tree
Vigorous and productive.
Fruit
Size: Large.
Form: Roundish oblate.
Stem: Short, set in an acute cavity.
Calyx: Closed.
Basin: Shallow and furrowed.
Skin: Greenish yellow.
Flesh/Flavor: White and tender. Downing describes the flavor as brisk subacid, rating the variety Good; Elliott describes the flesh as acid and sprightly but not rich.
Core/Seeds: Not described in source.
Season
September, October.
Uses
Profitable market sort; valuable for culinary uses (Downing).
Subtypes/Variants
Not described in source.
Other
The Encyclopedia of Practical Horticulture (Lowther, 1914) includes White Doctor in a variety-characteristic table without prose description:
White Doctor................. DL rob gy G b a 2* 2*
Book Sources
Described in 3 period pomological works
View original book sources (3)
— A.J. Downing, The Fruits and Fruit Trees of America (1900)White Doctor. Origin, Pennsylvania. A profitable market sort, and valuable for culinary uses. Tree vigorous and productive. Fruit large, roundish oblate, greenish yellow. Stalk short, set in an acute cavity. Calyx closed. Basin shallow and furrowed. Flesh white, tender, brisk subacid. Good. September, October.
— Granville Lowther (ed.), Encyclopedia of Practical Horticulture (1914)White Doctor................. DL rob gy G b a 2* 2*
— F.R. Elliott, The Western Fruit Book (1865)White Doctor.
Origin, Pennsylvania. Tree, vigorous and productive. Fruit, large, roundish oblate; skin, greenish yellow; stem, short, set in an acute cavity; calyx, closed; basin, shallow and furrowed; flesh, white, tender, acid, sprightly but not rich. September, October.