Cultivar 9: S. D. Ben

S. D. Ben is a South Dakota crabapple selection introduced in 1938 from a cross of Jonathan apple and Tony crab. Hansen's bulletin gives the cross directly and says this makes the fruit one half Jonathan, one fourth baccata crab, and one fourth MacMahon White apple. This places it within the effort to improve Siberian crabapple material with better dessert and cooking quality. [S1]

The fruit is described as about two inches across and nearly covered with red over a very light clear yellow ground, with striping, mixed color, and a white bloom. The basin is flat and minutely wrinkled. The flesh is white, very firm, juicy, and pleasantly lively subacid. [S1]

S. D. Ben was valued especially for cooking. The bulletin says it cooks tender into sauce of excellent quality, with yellow sauce and slices that hold their shape while becoming tender. It was also described as an annual bearer. [S1]

The season appears late for a crabapple of this type. The fruit was still not fully colored at the end of August, and the source says the season is evidently winter. [S1]

Its broader significance is as a named Jonathan derived prairie crabapple from the South Dakota Experiment Station breeding program. It was part of a line of hardy apple crab selections meant to carry cultivated apple quality into tougher northern material. A figure caption in the same bulletin also shows S. D. Ben as an illustrated named selection, and a related entry identifies S. D. Eda as its sister. [S1]

The surviving evidence is strong for fruit quality and pedigree but thin for tree habit, disease response, and explicit hardiness wording. Its place in a South Dakota hardy fruit bulletin supports cold climate intent, but no direct zone statement appears in the cited source. [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

“S. D. Eda is described as a sister to S. D. Ben crabapple introduced in 1938.”
— ^[1]

“S. D. Ben is referenced as a named South Dakota crabapple selection illustrated on the page.”
— ^[1]

“Listed in the table of contents under "IMPROVING THE SIBERIAN CRABAPPLE" with entry page 9.”
— ^[1]

“The basin is flat and minutely wrinkled.”
— ^[1]

Direct parent cultivars

• No direct linked parent cultivars promoted yet.

Parentage claim text

• Given as Jonathan apple x Tony crab, making it one-half Jonathan apple, one-fourth baccata crab, and one-fourth MacMahon White apple.

Derived or downstream cultivar links

• No derived or downstream lineage links yet.

Source-story quotations

• Fruit two inches across, nearly all covered with red, striped and mixed over yellow ground with white bloomNew Hardy Fruits for the Northwest, p10
• Flesh white, very firm, juicy, a pleasant, lively subacid; cooks tender into sauce of excellent qualityNew Hardy Fruits for the Northwest, p10
• This makes it one-half Jonathan, one-fourth baccata crab, one-fourth MacMahon White appleNew Hardy Fruits for the Northwest, p10
• The sauce is yellow; the slices retain their shape but are tenderNew Hardy Fruits for the Northwest, p10

Taxonomy context: No family-tree context surfaced yet.

Related cultivars mentioned in source context