Cultivar 4: Semla

Semla is a hardy standard apple listed by N. E. Hansen in the South Dakota Agricultural Experiment Station bulletin New Hardy Fruits for the Northwest as a 1940 introduction. Hansen describes it as an open pollinated seedling of Wolf River apple. That places it in the station's northern plains apple breeding and selection work, not as a named cross with a fully documented pollen parent. [S1]

The fruit is described as very large, about 3 inches in diameter, and oblate. Hansen notes red stripes with mixed and solid red over a yellow ground, along with grayish net veining. The flesh is described as pleasant subacid. The apple is specifically praised for "excellent quality sauce," which suggests its strongest documented value was culinary rather than dessert use. He also remarks that under orchard propagation the fruit would probably grow larger than three inches. [S1]

The entry gives a few more pomological details. The basin is smooth, abrupt, and narrow. The cavity is acute, narrow, and russeted. These details make Semla look like a carefully observed seedling selection rather than a brief list entry. The bulletin does not provide storage, bearing, disease, or tree habit notes for this cultivar in the cited material. [S1]

No direct hardiness statement appears in the cited entry. Still, Semla was published in a bulletin devoted to new hardy fruits for the Northwest and grouped under New Hardy Standard Apples in the South Dakota program. That context supports its place in northern Great Plains hardy fruit work, though the page does not assign a zone or specific winter limit. [S1]

The name carries a small historical note. Hansen glossed "Semla" as the Russian word for "family." That detail fits the bulletin's broader pattern of drawing on northern Eurasian fruit history while building a local hardy fruit tradition on the prairie. [S1]

Summary source basis

• S1: New Hardy Fruits for the Northwest

This summary currently draws chiefly from New Hardy Fruits for the Northwest.

Featured source descriptions

“Listed in the table of contents under "NEW HARDY STANDARD APPLES" with entry page 5.”
— ^[1]

“Basin smooth, abrupt, narrow; cavity acute, narrow, russeted.”
— ^[1]

“Flesh pleasant subacid.”
— ^[1]

“the Russian for "family."”
— ^[1]

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

• Fruit very large, 3 inches in diameter, oblate with red stripes with mixed and solid red over yellow ground, with grayish net-veiningNew Hardy Fruits for the Northwest, p6
• When propagated and under orchard conditions probably the fruit will be larger than three inchesNew Hardy Fruits for the Northwest, p6
• Basin smooth, abrupt, narrow; cavity acute, narrow, russetedNew Hardy Fruits for the Northwest, p6
• An open-pollinated seedling of Wolf River appleNew Hardy Fruits for the Northwest, p6

Taxonomy context: No family-tree context surfaced yet.

Related cultivars mentioned in source context