The World of Apples

Apple varieties, France

Court Pendu Plat

Flowers later than any other apple, so escaping spring frosts as the Wise Apple; first described shortly before 1613

History

The name, French for ‘suspended short’, describes the stalk, so short that the fruit seems to sit on the branch2. The blossom opens later than that of any other apple and so escapes spring frosts, which gave it the name Wise Apple1,2,3.

André Leroy, who knew it as the Court-Pendu Rouge, traced its first description to Jean Bauhin’s Historia plantarum universalis, written shortly before 16134. Bauhin’s Courte-Queue was larger and handsomer than the Court-Pendu Gris, golden or red, kept until March or April and had firm, yellowish flesh of a pleasant, acid and vinous taste; it came, he wrote, from Epamanduodurum, now Mandeure, in the county of Montbéliard4. From there, Leroy believed, it spread through France, where pomologists praised it often between 1628 and 1775, and it became so common in Belgium that it was nicknamed Reinette des Belges4. Hogg recorded the English names Garnons, from the Cotterell family’s house near Hereford, where it had been grown without a name, and Wollaton Pippin, from Lord Middleton’s seat in Nottinghamshire2.

SNP studies confirm it as a parent of Laxton’s Rearguard, though with Cox’s Orange Pippin as the other parent rather than the recorded Ribston Pippin, and infer it as a parent of Delincée and Reinette de Lucas6 and of Peter Heusgens Reinette7. The National Fruit Collection also lists Laxton’s Royalty, Old Fred and Oxford Conquest as its offspring1.

The fruit

The fruit is small to medium, flat and regular1,2,3; the National Fruit Collection’s record gives 62 mm wide and 44–50 mm high1. The skin is green at first on the shaded side, turning clear yellow, and on the sunny side covered with deep red (Hogg) or a dull red flush (Bunyard), with traces of russet2,3. The stalk is very short and set deep2,3. The flesh is yellow or yellowish white, very firm, fine-textured, crisp and juicy, sweet and rich with a slightly aromatic flavour1,2,3; Leroy noted a musky, aniseed aftertaste that perfumed the mouth4. Hogg rated it “a valuable dessert apple of the first quality”, in use from December to May2. At Brogdale it begins to flower about 20 May and is picked in mid-October1.

Growing

Hogg found the tree small, very hardy and an abundant bearer, making excellent bushes and espaliers on paradise stock2. Bunyard rated its growth small and its cropping good, and thought it one of the best apples for a heavy clay soil3; Downing found that it bore young and plentifully5. It is diploid6,7.

Where the sources disagree

  • Age and origin. To Bunyard it was of great antiquity, known in the sixteenth century and possibly Roman3; the National Fruit Collection places it in Europe, first described about 1613 but believed much older1; Downing called it French5. Leroy held it much younger than the ancient Capendu, or Court-Pendu Gris, under whose name Duhamel had wrongly described it in 17684; Hogg denied that it was Duhamel’s Capendu at all2.
  • Brabant Bellefleur. Both SNP studies pair it with Brabant Bellefleur as parent and offspring. Muranty and colleagues, going by the dates of record (1613 against the late 1700s), make Court Pendu Plat the parent6; Larsen and colleagues, who ordered such pairs from the SNP data, list Brabant Bellefleur as its parent7.
  • Cropping and stock. An abundant bearer to Hogg and Downing and a good one to Bunyard2,3,5, but middling to Leroy, who preferred doucin to paradise stock for dwarf trees4.
  • Flavour. Sweet to the National Fruit Collection1, sweet and acidulous to Leroy4, brisk and acid to Downing5.

Family tree

Offspring in the atlas

Sources

  1. Court Pendu Plat (accession 1948-328), National Fruit Collection, Brogdale, Kent (Defra). Supports: "This variety originated in Europe. It was first described in about 1613 but believed to be much older than this"; called Wise Apple because it flowers late and escapes spring frost damage; "very firm, fine-textured, juicy flesh which is sweet with a pleasant, slightly aromatic flavour"; a dessert apple; mother to Laxton's Rearguard and father to Old Fred, Laxton's Royalty and Oxford Conquest; from the National Apple Register (Smith, 1971): medium, flat, 62 mm wide and 44–50 mm high, yellow ground flushed dull red, some russet, yellowish-white flesh, firm and crisp, late flowering; 10% flowering on 20 May and picking in mid-October at Brogdale.
  2. The Fruit Manual, 5th ed., pp. 53–54: Court-Pendu-Plat, Robert Hogg, Journal of Horticulture Office, Internet Archive, 1884. Supports: synonyms including Court-pendu plat rougeâtre, Princesse Noble Zoete, Garnons, Wollaton Pippin and Wise Apple; fruit medium-sized, oblate, regularly and handsomely shaped; skin bright green at first on the shaded side, changing to clear yellow with traces of russet, entirely covered with rich deep red next the sun; stalk short and deeply inserted; flesh yellow, firm, crisp, very juicy, richly flavoured; "A valuable dessert apple of the first quality", in use from December to May; tree of small growth, very hardy, an abundant bearer, making excellent bushes and espaliers on the paradise stock; blossom opening later than that of any other variety and so less liable to spring frosts, hence the Wise Apple; not the Capendu of Duhamel; the name from Court pendu, "suspended short", the stalk so short that the fruit sits upon the branch; called Garnons from the Cotterell family's residence near Hereford, where it had been grown without a name, and Wollaton Pippin from Lord Middleton's residence in Nottinghamshire.
  3. A Handbook of Hardy Fruits, vol. I, p. 43: Court Pendu Plat, E. A. Bunyard, John Murray, Internet Archive, 1920. Supports: German name Koeniglicher Kurzstiel; other names including Garnons, Wise Apple, Court Queue and Wollaton Pippin; dessert, till April; smallish, flat, regular; yellow covered with dull red flush and slight russet; flesh yellow, firm, rich flavour; stem very short in a deep cavity; growth small, fertility good; "The latest of all to flower, hence its name, Wise Apple"; "Origin, of great antiquity; known in the sixteenth century, and possibly dating from Roman days"; "One of the best for a heavy clay soil".
  4. Dictionnaire de pomologie, vol. III, pp. 239–241: Court-Pendu Rouge (in French), André Leroy, Paris and Angers, Internet Archive, 1873. Supports: entry no. 123, with 31 synonyms, among them Courte-Queue (Jean Bauhin, before 1613, Historia plantarum universalis), Court-Pendu plat (Lindley, 1831), Court-Pendu plat rougeâtre, Princesse Noble Zoete and Wollaton Pippin (Thompson, 1842), Reinette des Belges and Coriandre rose; fertility mediocre; dwarf trees on doucin, not paradise; fruit usually medium, much flattened at the poles; flesh yellowish, firm, fine and crisp; juice sweet and acidulous, with a musky, aniseed aftertaste "parfumant délicieusement la bouche"; ripe November to March; first quality; the fruit that Duhamel wrongly described in 1768 under the ancient name Capendu, or Court-Pendu Gris, its many synonyms showing it much younger than that variety; first described by Bauhin shortly before 1613 as Courte-Queue, apples larger and handsomer than the Court-Pendu [Gris], some golden and some red, keeping until March or April, with firm yellowish flesh of a pleasant, acidulous and vinous flavour, which came from Epamanduodurum in the county of Montbéliard, now Mandeure; from there spreading through France, often described and praised by French writers from 1628 to 1775, Claude Mollet (1678) calling the red Courpendu the best of all the Courpendus; highly esteemed by the English, Germans and Belgians, among whom it was so common as to be nicknamed Reinette des Belges.
  5. The Fruits and Fruit Trees of America, pp. 134–135: Court Pendu Plat, A. J. Downing, revised by Charles Downing, John Wiley & Sons, Internet Archive, 1900. Supports: "A popular French variety"; fruit of medium size, regularly formed and quite flat; skin rich deep crimson on the sunny side, with a little pale greenish yellow in the shade; flesh yellow, crisp, with a rich brisk acid flavour; the tree bearing young and plentifully; synonyms including Coriandre Rose.
  6. Using whole-genome SNP data to reconstruct a large multi-generation pedigree in apple germplasm, H. Muranty and others, BMC Plant Biology 20: 2, with Additional files 1, 3 and 6, 2020. Supports: Court Pendu Plat diploid and dated 1613 (Table S1); Court Pendu Plat and Cox's Orange Pippin inferred as the parents of Laxton's Rearguard, whose recorded parents were Court Pendu Plat and Ribston Pippin, the first confirmed and the second not, and Court Pendu Plat and Reinette de Hollande as the parents of Delincée (Table S3); parent–offspring duos with Brabant Bellefleur (dated late 1700s) and Reinette de Lucas (1872), oriented by the documented dates to make Court Pendu Plat the parent (Table S5, in Additional file 6).
  7. Cultivar fingerprinting and SNP-based pedigree reconstruction in Danish heritage apple cultivars utilizing genotypic data from multiple germplasm collections in the world, B. Larsen and others, Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution 72: 2397, with supplementary tables, 2025. Supports: Court Pendu Plat diploid, held at the University of Copenhagen as Kongelig Kortstilk (Table S1), with Brabant Bellefleur as its SNP-confirmed parent and no second parent identified, and as a parent of Peter Heusgens Reinette, with Reinette de Breda Grise (Table S5); parent–offspring pairs ordered from phased SNP data with the order-resolution tests of Howard and others (methods).

All 201 varieties from France