Cultivar 135: Parker

Parker has a conflicted identity in the current source set. In Edible Apples in Prairie Canada, Parker appears as an apple, with parentage given as baccata x Wealthy and a reference to the Central Experimental Farm. The date is unclear in the scan. [S1] South Dakota sources, however, list Parker as a hybrid pear, not an apple. One extension table includes Parker among pears recommended for trial in Zone I, the milder fruit growing belt along South Dakota's southern border and lower Black Hills valleys. [S2] A 1979 South Dakota nursery availability circular also lists Parker under hybrid pear varieties and shows that multiple nurseries in the state offered it. [S3]

Because of this disagreement, the safest reading is that the name Parker was used for more than one fruit, or that one source attached the name to the wrong crop. The apple source preserves the only parentage note in this packet, baccata x Wealthy, but it gives no fruit description, season, storage, or tree habit beyond the brief pedigree style entry. [S1] The South Dakota pear sources add no parentage or descriptive detail, but they do show that a pear called Parker had enough regional interest to be listed for trial and sold commercially. [S2] [S3]

Hardiness evidence is also indirect. The pear Parker was not placed among the broadly recommended pears for colder parts of South Dakota. It appears only in the Zone I trial column, which points to use in the state's more favored locations rather than the open prairie north. [S2] The nursery circular does not mark Parker with the XX footnote for tender sorts, so it was at least considered saleable in South Dakota, though that is weaker evidence than an explicit hardiness rating. [S3]

Until stronger primary material is assembled, Parker should be treated as unresolved. Sources in this packet do not yet support a clean single cultivar monograph for fruit quality, season, or breeding history. What they do preserve is a useful archival problem: Parker sits at the intersection of prairie apple and northern pear records, which makes it a cultivar name worth tracing further rather than simplifying too quickly. [S1] [S2] [S3]

Summary source basis

• S1: Edible Apples in Prairie Canada
• S2: South Dakota Fruit Garden
• S3: Nursery Plants Available from South Dakota Nurseries

This summary currently draws chiefly from Daniels planting guide, 1950, with 4 additional supporting sources linked below.

Featured source descriptions

“Reference line cites CGS (Brooks & Morden).”
— ^[3]

“Available from nursery listings 2, 6, 7, 11, 15, 16, 22, 23, and 32.”
— ^[6]

“Listed under Pears for trial in Zone I.”
— ^[5]

Direct parent cultivars

• No direct linked parent cultivars promoted yet.

Parentage claim text

• Parentage is baccata x Wealthy.
• Parentage given as baccata x Wealthy.

Derived or downstream cultivar links

• No derived or downstream lineage links yet.

Source-story quotations

• Parker Pear (Minnesota No. 1). This splendid Pear was introduced a few years ago by the Minnesota State Fruit FarmHardy fruits for Northern planting, trees, shrubs, 1937, p7
• Parker Pear (Minnesota No. 1). This splendid Pear was introduced a few years ago by the Minnesota State Fruit FarmHardy fruits for Northern planting, trees, shrubs, 1937, p7
• Parker Pear (Minnesota No. 1). This splendid Pear was introduced a few years ago by the Minnesota State Fruit FarmHardy fruits for Northern planting, trees, shrubs, 1937, p7
• Parker Pear (Minnesota No. 1). This splendid Pear was introduced a few years ago by the Minnesota State Fruit FarmHardy fruits for Northern planting, trees, shrubs, 1937, p7

Taxonomy context: No family-tree context surfaced yet.

Related cultivars mentioned in source context