Cultivar 244: Rosilda

Rosilda is a prairie apple selection from the cross Prince x McIntosh. It is sometimes grouped with crabapples because the fruit is smaller. Prairie histories name it as a notable result of William Saunders' second cross breeding work, and later cultivar notes connect it with the Experimental Farm at Ottawa. [S1] [S3]

Sources connect Rosilda with Saunders' 1905 crossing work and list it at Ottawa in 1915. Another prairie reference lists it in Central Experimental Farm records by 1920. [S1] [S3] It was remembered as an important early hardy apple on the Prairies. J. Coutts called it "our best apple before Heyer 12." [S1]

The fruit is described as about 5 cm across, or up to 2 1/4 inches, and long roundish in shape. It is pale yellow and almost covered with bright crimson, sometimes with a light bloom and a russeted cavity that is often lipped. [S1] [S3] The flesh is yellow tinged with red, firm, crisp, juicy, briskly sub acid, and perfumed. [S3] Prairie notes rate it good for canning and only fair for dessert, while the 1946 orchard bulletin calls it excellent for canning. [S1] [S3] It is an early apple that ripens around early September. [S1] [S3]

The tree is described as vigorous and upright, with good fruit production in the Ottawa era description. [S3] Prairie performance notes are more mixed. Rosilda cropped poorly at Beaverlodge, was not tolerant of chlorosis, and was somewhat susceptible to fire blight. [S1] [S3]

These sources do not state a hardiness zone. Rosilda appears in prairie orchard references and remained important enough to be used later as a breeding parent in prairie selection work. [S1] [S2] Prairie Fruit Breeding Project parentage tables list it as a parent in crosses such as Lobo x Rosilda and Rosilda x Rescue. Those are later breeding uses, not Rosilda's own parentage. [S2]

Rosilda matters in prairie fruit history both as a Saunders second cross apple and as a parent used in later prairie breeding. It stands between the earliest hardy apple experiments and the later co operative breeding era that built on them. [S1] [S2]

Summary source basis

• S1: Edible Apples in Prairie Canada
• S2: PrairieFruitBreedingDoc
• S3: TreeFruitsGrownInPrairieOrchards WRLeslie 1946 HQ

This summary currently draws chiefly from Edible Apples in Prairie Canada, with 2 additional supporting sources linked below.

Featured source descriptions

“Rosilda is named as one of the most notable offspring of Saunders' second crosses.”
— ^[1]

“It is presented as a notable second-cross prairie apple selection.”
— ^[1]

“Early season.”
— ^[1]

“Not tolerant to chlorosis.”
— ^[1]

Direct parent cultivars

• No direct linked parent cultivars promoted yet.

Parentage claim text

• Prince x McIntosh.
• Given as Prince x McIntosh.
• Listed as Prince x McIntosh.

Derived or downstream cultivar links

• Labo (lineage link)

Source-story quotations

• Rosilda (Prince x McIntosh) Saunders 1905 cross. CEF (1920) / Fruit 5cm, pale yellow with crimson blush. / Good canning and fair dessert. Early season.Edible Apples in Prairie Canada, p61
• Rosilda (Prince x McIntosh) Saunders 1905 cross. CEF (1920) / Fruit 5cm, pale yellow with crimson blush. / Good canning and fair dessert. Early season.Edible Apples in Prairie Canada, p61
• Rosilda (Prince x McIntosh) Saunders 1905 cross. CEF (1920) / Fruit 5cm, pale yellow with crimson blush. / Good canning and fair dessert. Early season.Edible Apples in Prairie Canada, p61
• Rosilda (Prince x McIntosh) Saunders 1905 cross. CEF (1920) / Fruit 5cm, pale yellow with crimson blush. / Good canning and fair dessert. Early season.Edible Apples in Prairie Canada, p61

Taxonomy context: No family-tree context surfaced yet.

Related cultivars mentioned in source context