Fruit, medium sized, two inches and three quarters wide, and about two inches and a half high; roundish-ovate, regularly and handsomely formed. Skin, greenish yellow, with a blush and faint streaks of red next the sun, dotted all over with minute dots, and marked with several large spots of rough russet; the base is covered with a coating of russet, strewed with silvery scales. Eye, large and open, set in a shallow and plaited basin. Stalk, half an inch long, obliquely inserted by the side of a fleshy prominence. Flesh, firm, crisp, brisk, juicy, and pleasantly acid, resembling the Winter Greening in flavor.
It is an excellent culinary apple, in use from November to February; but as it has nothing to recommend it, in preference to other varieties already in cultivation, it need only be grown in large collections.
The original tree was produced from a pip, accidentally sown in the home nursery of Messrs. Ronalds, of Brentford, and from growing on a bank by the side of a ditch, it was called the Bank Apple.
17. BARCELONA PEARMAIN.—Hort.
- Identification.—[Hort. Soc. Cat.] ed. 3, n. 532. [Lind. Guide], 62. [Rog. Fr. Cult.] 74.
- Synonymes.—Speckled Golden Reinette, [Hort. Soc. Cat.] ed. 1, n. 933. Speckled Pearmain, Ibid. ed. 2. Polinia Pearmain, Acc. [Rog. Fr. Cult.] Reinette Rousse, [Duh. Arb. Fr.] I. 302. Reinette des Carmes, Acc. [Chart. Cat.] 51. Glace Rouge, [Hort. Soc. Cat.] ed. 1, n. 365. Kleine Casseler Reinette, [Diel Kernobst.] I. 182. Cassel Reinette, [Christ. Handb.] No. 58.
- Figures.—[Pom. Mag.] t. 85, [Ron. Pyr. Mal.] pl. xxi., f. 4.
Fruit, of medium size; oval. Skin, clear pale yellow, mottled with red in the shade; but dark red next the sun, the whole covered with numerous star-like russety specks, those on the shaded side being brownish, and those next the sun yellow. Eye, small and open, with erect acuminate segments, and set in a round, even, and pretty deep basin. Stalk, about an inch long, slender, inserted in a rather shallow cavity, which is lined with russet. Flesh, yellowish white, firm, crisp, very juicy, and with a rich, vinous, and highly aromatic flavor.
One of the best dessert apples, and equally valuable for culinary purposes. It comes to perfection about the end of November, and continues in use till March.
The tree is a free grower, but does not attain the largest size. It is very hardy, an abundant bearer, and succeeds well either as a standard or an espalier.
In the third edition of the Horticultural Society’s Catalogue, this is said to be the same as Reinette Rouge. I do not think that it is the Reinette Rouge of the French, which Duhamel describes as being white, or clear yellow in the shade, having often prominent ribs round the eye, which extend down the sides, so as to render the shape angular; a character at variance with that of the Barcelona Pearmain. But I have no doubt of it being the Reinette Rousse of the same author, which is described at page 302, vol. 1, as a variety of Reinette Franche, and which he says is of an elongated shape, skin marked with a great number of russety spots, the most part of which are of a longish figure, so much so, when it is ripe, it appears as if variegated with yellow and red; a character in every way applicable to the Barcelona Pearmain.