Cultivar 218: Loudon

Loudon is a red raspberry bred in Wisconsin by Frank W. Loudon of Janesville. It is described as a seedling of Turner crossed with Cuthbert.[S2] In early northern plains sources, it stands out less for fruit description than for adaptation and usefulness under hard conditions. South Dakota recommendations list it among the red raspberries for several districts with winter protection, showing that it was already considered worth growing across a broad cold region trial area.[S1]

These sources place Loudon in the period of active prairie testing rather than formal modern release sheets. A South Dakota Experiment Station bulletin says it originated a few years earlier as Frank W. Loudon's seedling of Turner x Cuthbert.[S2] The same bulletin later shows Loudon used in breeding work, as the pollen parent in Station hybrid raspberry seedlings from Cavalier wild material.[S2] That was later breeding use, not Loudon's own parentage.[S2]

At Brookings, Loudon could sometimes bear a fair crop without winter protection, but it usually killed back badly and produced little or no fruit.[S2] The same source says it did much better in the Black Hills. A later summary makes that difference clearer: Loudon and Marlboro had for a series of years proved more than twice as productive as any other red raspberry sorts tried there, making them the clear recommendations for Black Hills planting until something better appeared.[S2] The district list in the apple and small fruit bulletin fits that pattern, since Loudon is repeatedly recommended only with winter protection in colder South Dakota districts.[S1]

These sources do not give a full fruit description for Loudon beyond identifying it as a red raspberry.[S2] They do not give detailed notes here on berry size, flavor, season, or storage.[S1] [S2] What they do preserve is Loudon's place in prairie fruit history: a named cultivated red raspberry that struggled on the open plains, did much better in the Black Hills, and was important enough to recommend and to use in further breeding.[S2]

Summary source basis

• S1: A Study of Northwestern Apples
• S2: Raspberries, Blackberries and Dewberries

This summary currently draws chiefly from Raspberries, Blackberries and Dewberries, with 1 additional supporting sources linked below.

Featured source descriptions

“The resulting Lot Aseedlings included some with large and promising fruit.”
— ^[1]

“At the Station it has occasionally borne a fair crop without winter protection but usually kills back so far that very little or no fruit is produced.”
— ^[1]

“For a series of years Loudon proved more than twice as productive as any of the other red raspberry sorts tried.”
— ^[1]

“With winter protection, listed among red raspberries for Districts 2, 3, 4, 5, 10, 11, 12 and for District 7.”
— ^[2]

Direct parent cultivars

• No direct linked parent cultivars promoted yet.

Parentage claim text

• Described as a seedling of Turner crossed with Cuthbert.

Derived or downstream cultivar links

• Wild (lineage link)

Source-story quotations

• No source-story quotations surfaced yet.

Taxonomy context: No family-tree context surfaced yet.

Related cultivars mentioned in source context