Flower of Kent

Not to be confused with Beauty of Kent (apple).

This apple tree at the Botanic Gardens in Cambridge is a descendant of a tree which grew in Isaac Newton's garden at Woolsthorpe Manor. Erroneously photographed with an apple of the "Red Delicious" variety.

The Flower of Kent is a green cultivar of cooking apple. It is pear-shaped, mealy, and sub-acid, and of generally poor quality by today's standards. As its name suggests, this cultivar likely originated from Kent, England.[1]

Though now largely gone from commercial cultivation, a handful of Flower of Kent trees remain. Most, if not all, are said to descend from trees at Newton's Woolsthorpe Manor, and nearly all that exist descend from a single tree in East Malling, Kent. One such tree is located in the President's Garden at MIT, although it is known to have produced only one apple.[2] Currently, this cultivar remains available at Antique Apple Orchard Inc. in Sweet Home, Oregon.[3]

According to the story, this is the apple Isaac Newton saw falling to ground from its tree, inspiring his laws of universal gravitation.

The National Fruit Collection at Brogdale[4] contains an example, listed as "Isaac Newton's Tree" (1948-729).

References

1. Sir Isaac Newton's Tree at Orange Pippin
2. This apple proved too tempting: Rare fruit nabbed from tree at MIT
3. "All About Apples". Archived from the original on 2009-08-14. Retrieved 2009-11-16.
4. Brogdale – Home of the National Fruit Collection

• Keesing, R. G. (1998). "The history of Newton's apple tree". Contemporary Physics. 39 (5): 377–391. Bibcode:1998ConPh..39..377K. doi:10.1080/001075198181874.

External links

• A Brief History of Isaac Newton’s Apple Tree
• Isaac Newton’s Apple Tree at Woolsthorpe Manor