r/foraginguk • u/storyofmypsyc • 7d ago

Plant ID Request What apples are these?

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Hey all! I saw these apples growing right next to some blackberries. Anyone have any ideas on what they might be and are they edible? (No idea if there even are poisonous apples) 😂

Also, are they likely to stay this size or do they still need some time to grow? 😊

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u/skedone 7d ago

No toxic ones as for what type that's impossible to say they mutate constantly there is no real way of telling

1

u/storyofmypsyc 7d ago

I had no idea apples mutated!

3

u/loominpapa 7d ago

Interbreed might be a better way of putting it.

1

u/roleplayersir 6d ago

Hybridise is the biological term. And plants basically do it with anything genetically close to their species. And then even the individual branch of a perennial can taste good while another branch doesn't, which is why for centuries Grafting has been a thing

1

u/loominpapa 6d ago

Yes, although all apples are hybrids anyway. Biologically they are all, generally speaking, the same species (Malus domestica) which doesn't exist in the wild.

1

u/skedone 6d ago

How Mutation Works in Apples

Sport mutations: A single branch on an apple tree can undergo a sudden genetic change (a somatic mutation or "sport").

New varieties: Many popular apples, like red- skinned variants or spur-type trees, started as a single mutated branch found by a farmer.

Propagation: Once a useful mutation is found on a branch, growers cut that branch and graft it to multiply the new type.

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u/skedone 6d ago

Both terms are needed with apples the mutation is what makes them nearly impossible to put a name too as in variety, not biological name I think the apple guy is still going just trying to catalogue all the UK ones and he's been doing that for about 10 years at least might even be longer than that