10 pioneer-era apple types thought extinct found in US West

10 pioneer-era apple types thought extinct found in US West

Raiders of the lost apple

A volunteer-run organization has rediscovered 10 lost apple varieties in the northwestern United States. The Lost Apple Project seeks to rescue some of the 17,000 apple cultivars thought to have once been grown in North America, of which only about 4,500 are known to exist today. Members use old maps, county-fair records, newspaper clippings and nursery sales ledgers to find abandoned orchards and collect fruits. They then ship them to an Oregon conservancy, where they are studied. The organization also tries to reconstruct the history of the orchards. “When I find an apple that’s lost, I want to know who homesteaded it, when they were there, who their children were, when they took their last drink of water,” says amateur botanist E. J. Brandt.

Associated Press | 7 min read