Apple rootstock thought to have disappeared from England has been identified in Australia and Kashmir through DNA analysis. Pomologists report that the material is an immediate antecedent of cultivars, including Bramley's Seedling, Annie Elizabeth, and Newton Wonder.
The findings were presented at the University of Reading to a panel that included Dr Matt Ordidge, curator of the National Fruit Collection. The material confirmed that early rootstock had moved internationally through farmers, traders, emigrants to Australia, and military personnel in Kashmir.
Stephen Ainsleigh of the Marcher Apple Network (MAN), which works to conserve old apple and pear varieties, described the discovery as "astonishing." Rymer, recorded in fruit literature since 1822, had been feared lost. MAN collected grafts from potential surviving trees and conserved the resulting young material for analysis.
Historical catalogues from New South Wales, Australia, dating from 1843 onward, indicated that Rymer had been transported there and replanted across generations. Trees still known by that name remain on a farm near Braidwood in NSW. Newspaper reports contributed to the identification. Dried leaves from these trees were sent to the UK in 2025 for DNA analysis and were found to match.
Rymer was also introduced to Kashmir, likely by British officers involved in agricultural development. Pomologists report that DNA analysis confirms Rymer, paired with Northern Greening, as the parents of the cultivars Annie Elizabeth and Newton Wonder. Both Rymer and Northern Greening also appear as a parent or grandparent of Bramley's Seedling.
The discovery expands understanding of the genetic lineage and historical movement of heritage apple varieties.
Source: Hereford Times
