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History

The origin of this variety and its name is lengthily described in the Dictionnaire of Pomologie of André Leroy in 1873.

the ornament of our desserts, the Api one, “This apple which wants to be “eaten goulûment, without way, with the very whole skin” - wrote before 1688 Jean-Baptiste of Quintinie, director of the vegetable gardens of Versailles, the Api one goes back to the last years of the XVIe century. Lectier, of Orleans, was in 1628 that of our Pomologue S which it first mentioned it: “Small Apis and large Apis are of guard,” says it on page 23 of the Catalog of the trees cultivated in its orchard”. Olivier de Serres had well, in 1600, cité “Miss or Appie apple” thus called, added it, " of Appius Claudius Caecus, which Peloponnese brought it to Rome” (the theater of Agriculture, pp. 23-26); but all proves that here this agronomist illustrates was mistaken. Pline Old the will show it. With book XV of sound Historia naturalis, one does not read: “Appius, of the Claude family, is the obtentor of the Appiennes apples, which owe him their name. They have the red skin, the size of Scandiennes and the odor of the Coing. ” In front of this last character, each one remains convinced that Appienne could not be the Api one, extremely distant fruit to have the penetrating odor of quince, since its flesh and its water are completely inodorantes, stripped even of scented savor. Olivier de Serres will have probably indicated there the Apium species, also known Lectier (p. 23 of the " Catalog trees cultivated in its orchard and plant" , 1628), and now called, by corruption, Apion in the South of France. It releases a strong quince odor, approaches to volume, the form the Api one, but remotely entirely, as well as Appienne Roman, by its yellow gold skin, very strewn with russet-red gray points.

Api , the by no means identical one with Appiennes, thus comes neither from Rome nor of the Peloponnese. That remains established by the authority of Pline, by that of Household, declaring in 1650 “that Mala planed of Pline étoient different from our apples of etymological Apis”), then also by that of the scientist [[Jesuit] Hardouin. In 1585, in his remarkable comments on the famous Roman naturalist, this author realized indeed that the description of the Appienne apple did not relate to the Api one, and believed then possible to join together it with the " Petisienne" , another variety cultivated by the Romans; insupportable assumption, considering the absence, in the Latin authors, of any detail which can be used to compare these two species. Moreover, one century and half before (1340} Charles Estienne had already spoken about this Petisienne, and in a quite different way, because, it, “it observed is probably identical with apple of Paradise. ” p. 53.) Thus, formal dissension on this point between these two scholars and I add, dissension which always will reappear among the pomologists, when they try to attach our varieties to those mentioned by the Roman agronomists, in whom, except very rare exceptions, one finds only the name of the fruits, instead of sufficient descriptions to recognize them. Many times I noted it in my preceding volumes, by writing " history of [[Pear tree] the " ; it is seen that with regard to the Apple tree this indecision, or, better, this complete darkness, is continued.

a thing, however, astonishes me as for the origin the Api one: it is that the error of Olivier de Serres, making bring Peloponnese to Rome, by Appius, this charming apple, could remain until in 1867, date on which the pomological Congress still allotted, according to the author of the Theater of agriculture, same source with this same tree (see " Pomology of France" , T. IV, n° 1}; then, a little later to intend other horticultural writers to ensure, on the contrary, that one is entirely unaware of which country it left, easy was, however, to produce the civil statue of this so widespread apple tree; Merlet, in its " Summary of the goods fruits" , with three recoveries had recorded it. Since 1667, he says; " The Apple of Apis is of two kinds, the Large one and the Small one: one and the other has much water, and do not have odor like other apples, estant a crab apple which was in the forest of Apis, and which is kept very a long time beautiful and good. ” (Pages 154-155.) In its second edition, published in 1675, Merlet reproduced word for word this information (p. 148), but in its third and last, that of 1690, it supplemented it under various reports/ratios: " Apis - there lion - is a crab apple found in the forest of Apis, in Brittany… It names in Normandy, as well as theApi one, apple of One-year-old wood, which indeed rises much and charges by glanes. ” (Page 138.) Ainsi it is of a Breton forest that the Api left, the following the example of Bési d' Hérie, secular pear whose cradle was, around Nantes, the forest of Hérie, destroyed about 1640. But if I know where the latter was located, I am unaware of in which place rose that of Api, probably disappeared for a time much longer. The charts of Ogée on Brittany, engraved in 1771, only showed me close to the Rheu, borough close to Rennes, a small hamlet of the name of Apigné, in the entour of which some coppices are illustrated. Would this be there that was seen formerly the forest of Api, quoted by Merlet? … With others the care to clear up this point, still obscure for me.

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