Cultivar 137: Patten

Patten is usually described in prairie fruit literature as an apple raised in Iowa by C. G. Patten in 1885 from Duchess of Oldenburg, also given simply as Oldenburg. In Canadian prairie notes, it appears as a large late fall to early winter cooking apple with a vigorous, spreading, hardy, productive tree. It is sometimes called Patten Greening. [S1] [S5]

The clearest origin note in this source set places it with C. G. Patten of Iowa in 1885. Prairie Canada references shorten that pedigree to a seedling of Duchess of Oldenburg and warn not to confuse it with Patten Greening. This suggests some naming overlap in older listings. [S1] [S5]

Fruit descriptions in the Morden bulletin are concise but useful. The apples are described as large and round oblate, with thin but tough pale yellow skin blushed scarlet. The flesh is white with a yellow tint, firm, coarse, and acid. Quality is noted as good for cooking rather than dessert use. Its season is given as October to December, which places it among the later prairie apples rather than the very early sorts. [S5]

The tree is described as vigorous, spreading, hardy, and productive. This helps explain why it remained in prairie orchard literature. It was valued as a reliable hardy cooking apple more than as a refined fresh eating apple. Its inclusion in a prairie orchard bulletin and in Edible Apples in Prairie Canada places it firmly in the cold climate apple tradition of the Canadian Prairies. [S1] [S5]

Patten also appears later in University of Saskatchewan ancestry tables, not as a direct parentage record for Patten itself, but as an intermediate parent contributing 1.7 percent to recent advanced selections. This shows it had some later use in prairie breeding, even if it was not a dominant founder. [S4]

One source set in this packet creates uncertainty. South Dakota Extension materials also list a Patten under pears, including hybrid pear nursery listings and a Zone I trial recommendation. These entries may point to a different fruit with the same name, or to a cataloging ambiguity. They should not be merged into the apple's identity without stronger evidence. [S2] [S3]

Summary source basis

• S1: Edible Apples in Prairie Canada
• S2: South Dakota Fruit Garden
• S3: Nursery Plants Available from South Dakota Nurseries
• S4: ANCESTRY OF APPLE SELECTIONS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF SASKATCHEWAN
• S5: TreeFruitsGrownInPrairieOrchards WRLeslie 1946 HQ

This summary currently draws chiefly from TreeFruitsGrownInPrairieOrchards WRLeslie 1946 HQ, with 4 additional supporting sources linked below.

Featured source descriptions

“Reference line cites Maurer.”
— ^[3]

“Listed under Apples in the page's 'List of Varieties Described.'”
— ^[7]

“Flesh white with yellow tint, firm, coarse, acid.”
— ^[7]

“Available from nursery listings 7, 15, and 23.”
— ^[5]

Direct parent cultivars

• No direct linked parent cultivars promoted yet.

Parentage claim text

• No direct breeding_cross claim text yet.

Derived or downstream cultivar links

• No derived or downstream lineage links yet.

Source-story quotations

• Patten Pear by Chas. Patten ... has since been thoroughly tested and is now recommended for planting in the southern half of MinnesotaHardy fruits for Northern planting, trees, shrubs, 1937, p7
• Patten Pear by Chas. Patten ... has since been thoroughly tested and is now recommended for planting in the southern half of MinnesotaHardy fruits for Northern planting, trees, shrubs, 1937, p7
• Patten Pear by Chas. Patten ... has since been thoroughly tested and is now recommended for planting in the southern half of MinnesotaHardy fruits for Northern planting, trees, shrubs, 1937, p7
• Patten Pear by Chas. Patten ... has since been thoroughly tested and is now recommended for planting in the southern half of MinnesotaHardy fruits for Northern planting, trees, shrubs, 1937, p7

Taxonomy context: No family-tree context surfaced yet.

Related cultivars mentioned in source context