Posted on 05/27/2019 6:54:52 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
Apples originally evolved in the wild to entice ancient megafauna to disperse their seeds; more recently, humans began spreading the trees along the Silk Road with other familiar crops; dispersing the apple trees led to their domestication.
Recent archaeological finds of ancient preserved apple seeds across Europe and West Asia combined with historical, paleontological, and recently published genetic data are presenting a fascinating new narrative for one of our most familiar fruits. In this study, Robert Spengler of the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History traces the history of the apple from its wild origins, noting that it was originally spread by ancient megafauna and later as a process of trade along the Silk Road. These processes allowed for the development of the varieties that we know today...
The evidence suggests that large fruits are an evolutionary adaptation to attract large animals that can eat the fruits and spread the seeds. Certain large mammals, such as bears and domesticated horses, eat apples and spread the seeds today. However, prior to the end of the last Ice Age, there were many more large mammals on the European landscape, such as wild horses and large deer. Evidence suggests that seed dispersal in the large-fruiting wild relatives of the apple has been weak during the past ten thousand years, since many of these animals went extinct. The fact that wild apple populations appear to map over glacial refugial zones of the Ice Age further suggests that these plants have not been moving over long distances or colonizing new areas in the absence of their original seed-spreaders.
(Excerpt) Read more at eurekalert.org ...
Looked those up, nice looking trees!
I almost used a pic of Woz for the initial post. :^)
“What you’re experiencing is projection.”
Explain.
That’s exactly why I eat apples: to spread the seeds around. As an apple tree ever thanked me? No.
Road apples are little deposits sometimes gift wrapped in white paper left on your country property by passing bicyclers ...
Silky Appleseed
My family always planted gravensteins and winesaps, two apples that I imagine are now nearly extinct.
From a discarded apple core an apple tree can grow. There used to be one across from our mailbox, back when i was a kid.
I have two Kieffer pear trees and black spot disease keeps killing the harvest.
I too am in the south, around Wilmington. 4 of 5 blueberry bushes are covered in berries. 1 of 3 peach trees produced about 80 peaches. This is year 3 for 6 grapevines and they have quite a few grapes this year. Trying Chayote soon. I need a bigger yard.
(Actually, the Bible doesn't specify what kind of fruit the forbidden fruit was.)
Check with the local ag extension, see what they recommend. If it's in the Kieffer, it'll hit most other varieties -- but frankly there are better eating pears. :^)
I appreciate and look forward to your posts!
Thanks!
I believe I still see Stayman Winesap specimens at local greenhouses around here.
I’ve got a trellis of Niagara, Catawba, and Concord grapes going outside; tomorrow I’m taking a look see. The one I dug up from the old house in ‘12 to root is about 8’ or 9’ long now; I ordered several varieties from the Nursery from Hell in Bloomington, Indiana and it took them all summer to send me live bare root vines. I also have a replacement vine (Niagara? Catawba?) that’s thriving in a pot in the sun room with a dwarf Key lime, dwarf Meyer Lemon, and dwarf Cleopatra clementine in pots next to it. All four (and a vase of bamboo) seem to like the sunlight they’re getting; the Key lime actually started to fruit last year before the cats knocked them off jockeying for windowsill space. The place where I put the salvaged trellis doesn’t get a lot of sun; I may have to take it out; relocate it, then dig deep and hope the grape vines can withstand the root shock. Might have to soak them in a bucket of water for a day or so, until they stabilize a bit. If I run out of options, I may just trellis a couple varieties of muscadines (The Grape of The South).We found one little shoot of black muscadines when we bought the old house; within ten years, it took over a 9’ trellis and the front porch, and we couldn’t eat or preserve them fast enough. I think every species of bird south of Atlanta was nesting in that knot of vines; Mama bird didn’t have to go far to feed the chicks. She just leaned over the edge of the nest and plucked lunch. LOL
A relative had an apple tree at their house, right on the old National Road, long since bypassed by US40 and I-70. The branches were low so it was a great tree for a little kid to climb on. The family legend was that Johnny Appleseed himself had planted it.
Seven years in upstate NY gave me a lifelong love for the McIntosh.
It has appeal. /rimshot
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