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Hard disagree on apple trees. Every "Granny Smith" you've ever eaten is fruit from a cloned tree, cloned from the original Granny Smith tree which grew in the
by PaulRobinson 3y ago
Hard disagree on apple trees.
Every "Granny Smith" you've ever eaten is fruit from a cloned tree, cloned from the original Granny Smith tree which grew in the 19th century in New South Wales in Australia. This is because the fruit produced by apple trees change with each generation. If you want _that_ apple fruit, you need to clone it (via grafting).
I can therefore see why - if you believe that Newton was inspired by a falling apple - why you'd want that specific fruit to be available and therefore you'd graft a cutting and clone. If you didn't, that apple's taste, look and texture would be lost forever.
- card_zero 3y agoYeah, I thought there was something special about apple trees, but I couldn't remember what. Apparently they're "extreme heterozygotes", which means their evolved tactic is to really roll the dice hard with each generation, and so they don't "breed true".
- jondwillis 3y agoAFAIK all fruit trees and shrubs that are grown for economic reasons (cultivars) are going to be clones grafted onto some related but beneficial (disease resistance, vigor, etc.) rootstock. The cloning and grafting is purely for consistency of the fruit!
- vr46 3y agoYes, and that specific tree was cloned by grafting, and you can see one of them in Cambridge.