The World of Apples

Apple varieties, Israel

Anna

Bred by Abba Stein at Kibbutz Ein Shemer in Israel; it fruits after only 250–300 hours of winter chill

History

Anna (ענה) was bred by Abba Stein of Kibbutz Ein Shemer in Israel1,2. According to researchers at Israel’s Volcani Center, the crosses that gave Anna, the variety Ein Shemer and two numbered seedlings were made in 1954, with modern varieties as the pollen parents of local apples, and Anna came from Golden Delicious and a local apple called Red Hadassiya1. A Hebrew account gives the same year and the reasoning behind the cross: Golden Delicious had good fruit but needed long winter chill, while the red local apple suited hot climates and short winters but bore poor fruit2. Red Hadassiya, a small to medium-sized, sweet, pink-fleshed apple picked in June, takes its name from Adasiya, a village in the Jordan Valley, and has since been lost1.

Other sources date it later, as set out below; it reached the United States in 19653. The Volcani Center counts it “an outstanding success” of the use of a local variety, grown commercially in many warm apple regions of the world1. It is the most widely planted apple in Florida4, and in Colombia it is grown at altitude, where trees are managed to give two harvests a year6.

In 2020 a study of SNP data identified Orleans, an apple from New York dated 1912, as one of Anna’s parents4,5. It found no other parent: Golden Delicious, though tested, was not among them, and Red Hadassiya, now lost, was not tested1,5. Stein did use Orleans, crossing it with one of his own seedlings to raise another variety, Amihai1. The same study inferred that Anna is a parent of Dorsett Golden5. A population raised from Anna was used for the first genetic mapping of the chilling requirement in apple1.

The fruit

The University of Florida finds Anna more like Red Delicious than other low-chill apples, about 57 to 64 mm across, with a red blush over half the fruit and good flavour4. In the Volcani Center’s collection at Newe Ya’ar it is oblong-conical, light green to yellow with red stripes over up to half the skin; the flesh is white to yellowish and sweet, with much aroma, 12.3 per cent soluble solids and good eating quality1. It ripens there about 9 July1; in Florida it ripens from late May through June and keeps six to eight weeks under refrigeration4.

Growing

Anna needs only 250 to 300 hours of winter chill, though also a good deal of warmth before it blooms, and in Florida it is grown from Ocala northwards4. It is diploid3,5. It sets almost no fruit with its own pollen: in a 1977 trial, self-pollinated flowers set 0.3 per cent fruit, and Dorsett Golden, which flowers at the same time, was recommended as its pollinator3. At Newe Ya’ar the tree is upright, of medium size, quite vigorous and highly productive1; the University of Florida describes a spur-type tree, upright to semi-spreading and of medium height4.

Where the sources disagree

  • Date. The Volcani Center and a Hebrew account put the cross in 19541,2; Crocker and colleagues give 1959 for the cross and 1963 for its introduction3, the University of Florida says it was bred in 19594, and a 2026 review gives 1956 for its release6.
  • Parentage. The recorded parents are Red Hadassiya and Golden Delicious1,3; SNP data identify Orleans as one parent and do not find Golden Delicious5.
  • Dorsett Golden. The same SNP study makes Anna, dated 1954, a parent of Dorsett Golden, dated 19535.

Family tree

Parents, grandparents and great-grandparents, as the entries in the atlas record them.

  • Anna Israel, 1954
    • Parent Orleans United States, 1912
      • Seed parent Deacon Jones
      • Pollen parent Delicious United States, 1872
        • Parent Winesap United States, by 1817

Offspring in the atlas

Orleans Anna
Where Anna came from. The lines lead to its parents: Orleans (United States).

Sources

  1. Apple genetic resources in Israel, Doron Holland, Irit Bar-Ya'akov and Kamel Hatib (Newe Ya'ar Research Center, Agricultural Research Organization), Journal of the American Pomological Society 69(4): 186–200, 2015. Supports: "Stein's cultivars 'Anna', 'Ein Shemer', '27' and '28' are crosses made in 1954, between modern varieties as the pollen donors and local varieties"; Anna from Golden Delicious and Red Hadasia; Red Hadasia (Adasiya Adom, "Red from Adasiya", after the village of Adasiya in the Jordan Valley) small to medium, pink-fleshed and sweet, picked in June, and lost; Stein's Amihai bred from '28' x Orleans; Anna "an outstanding success of the usage of a local variety", commercially grown "in many warm apple growing regions in the world"; a population from Anna used for the first QTL mapping of chilling requirements in apple; at Newe Ya'ar (Tables 3 and 4): ripe on 9 July, 62.6 mm across, 12.3% TSS, much aroma, oblong-conical, light green to yellow with red stripes over up to 50%, white-yellowish flesh, sweet, good eating quality; tree upright, of medium height and width, quite vigorous, highly productive, with a low chilling requirement.
  2. Not only in honey: all about the apple (in Hebrew), Ella Pozner, Davidson Institute, Ynet, 2020-09-18. Supports: the Hebrew name ענה; developed in 1954 by Abba Stein of Kibbutz Ein Shemer, from Golden Delicious, of good quality but needing much winter chill, and a red local variety suited to hot climates and short winters but of poor fruit quality.
  3. Self-unfruitfulness of 'Anna' apple, T. E. Crocker, W. B. Sherman and R. J. Knight Jr, Fruit Varieties Journal 33(2): 65–66, American Pomological Society, 1979. Supports: "originated in Israel and was introduced by Abba Stein in 1963"; "resulted from crossing 'Red Hadassiya', a local variety, and 'Golden Delicious' in 1959"; diploid, 2n = 34; introduced into the United States in 1965; in a 1977 trial, 0.3% fruit set from its own pollen, "highly self-unfruitful"; Dorsett Golden recommended as its pollenizer because it matches Anna's bloom.
  4. Low-Chill Apple Cultivars for North Florida and North Central Florida (HS764/MG368), Peter C. Andersen, Muhammad A. Shahid and Kevin Folta, UF/IFAS Extension, University of Florida, 2022. Supports: "bred in Israel in 1959"; "the most widely planted apple cultivar in Florida"; chilling requirement of 250–300 hours, so grown from Ocala northwards; the need for heat units before bloom; ripening from late May through June; six to eight weeks of keeping with refrigeration; fruit resembling Red Delicious more than other low-chill cultivars, 2¼–2½ inches, with a 50% red blush and good flavour, crisp (Table 2); spur-type trees, upright to semi-spreading and medium in height; Orleans from New York (Table 1).
  5. Using whole-genome SNP data to reconstruct a large multi-generation pedigree in apple germplasm, Hélène Muranty and others, BMC Plant Biology 20: 2, with Additional file 1 (Table S1) and Additional file 6 (Table S5), 2020. Supports: Orleans (dated 1912) inferred as a parent of Anna (9 Mendelian errors; Table S5), orientation supported by a grandparent group; Anna inferred as a parent of Golden Dorsett (Dorsett Golden); no other parent found for Anna, Golden Delicious being among the genotypes tested and Red Hadassiya not; Anna diploid, dated 1954 (Table S1).
  6. Low-chill apples: genetics of crisis and opportunity in a valuable fruit crop, Mujahid Hussain, Javier Rivera and Kevin M. Folta, Fruit Research 6: e041, Maximum Academic Press, 2026. Supports: Anna, Abba Stein's best-known cultivar, "released in 1956"; a standard for tropical and subtropical regions; grown at altitude in Colombia, where trees are managed to give two harvests a year.