The World of Apples

Apple varieties, Australia

Cripps Pink

Bred by John Cripps from a 1973 cross of Lady Williams and Golden Delicious; top-grade fruit is sold as Pink Lady

History

The Western Australian Department of Agriculture took up apple breeding in the early 1970s2,3, and its breeder, John Cripps, set out to combine Golden Delicious with Lady Williams, a firm local apple that stored well2. The crosses were made in 19731,3, and some 108,000 crossed seedlings were planted in all2. The seedling that became Cripps Pink first fruited in 19791. By the department’s account the trees were fruiting by 1983, every one had to be tasted, and Cripps chose the cross whose fruit had kept its looks, taste, crispness and juiciness over the winter; it was selected in 19842,4. A United States plant patent followed in 19921.

Cripps had a hand in naming both the variety and its trade mark, Pink Lady2,4. The mark was launched in 1991, and DPIRD calls it “the world’s first apple ‘brand’”2. Only fruit that passes tests of firmness, sugar content and skin redness may be sold under it; fruit that falls short is sold as Cripps Pink, the variety’s name2. The list of varieties in the international marketing standard for apples gives Flavor Rose as a second trade mark for Cripps Pink6.

Cripps Red, a less vigorous sibling with darker, slightly sweeter fruit, came from the same parents and the same year3. By 1994 Cripps Pink was the most planted of Cripps’s three new apples and was on trial around the world3. In New Zealand it made up 5.5 per cent of apple exports in 2025, while between 2022 and 2025 the combined planted area of Cripps Pink, Braeburn and one other variety shrank by a third5.

The fruit

The patent describes large, uniform fruit, about 78 mm long and 82 mm across and weighing about 195 grams on average, asymmetrical and ribbed1. A pink blush without stripes covers 30–80 per cent of a yellow-green ground; it develops late and deepens in sunlight1. The skin is medium to thin and does not crack1. The cream flesh is firm, fine and juicy, subacid to sweet, with an aroma the patent calls “distinct, complex and highly aromatic”, and it browns little when cut1.

Growing

The tree is very vigorous and upright, like Lady Williams, and needs little winter chilling: the patent estimates less than 400 hours below 7 °C1. In Western Australia it flowers over four to six weeks in October and November, and it bears early in its life, even on one-year-old upright shoots1. The fruit tolerates sunburn, and in early storage tests it did not develop bitter pit1. Tancred and colleagues warned that, if not managed correctly, the vigorous tree gives pale fruit3. At Manjimup the fruit was picked from about 1 to 10 May1. It keeps up to six months in cold storage and 10–12 months in controlled atmosphere, and about four weeks on the shop shelf at 15–18 °C1.

Uses

Cripps Pink is a dessert apple1.

Where the sources disagree

  • Where the cross was made. The patent names the Horticultural Research Centre at Manjimup1; Tancred and colleagues give Stoneville3.
  • Seed parent. Tancred and colleagues call Lady Williams the seed parent in their text but list Golden Delicious as the seed parent in their table3; the patent gives no order1.
  • When breeding began. Tancred and colleagues date the department’s programme to 19723, DPIRD to 19732.

Family tree

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

Sources

  1. US Plant Patent 7,880: Apple tree Cripps Pink cultivar, John E. Cripps, assigned to the Western Australia Department of Agriculture; United States Patent and Trademark Office; Google Patents, 1992-06-09. Supports: a seedling of a planned cross of Lady Williams ("unpatented chance seedling discovered in Western Australia") and Golden Delicious, with parentage also given as "A cross of Golden Delicious and Lady Williams"; the crosses made in 1973 by John Cripps, Senior Research Officer, at the Horticultural Research Centre at Manjimup (spelt "Manjiump" in the patent); first fruiting in 1979; filed 18 October 1990, granted 9 June 1992 and assigned to the Western Australia Department of Agriculture; large, uniform, asymmetrical, ribbed fruit about 78.3 mm long and 82.1 mm broad, mean weight about 195 grams; a pink blush without striping over 30–80% of a yellow-green ground, developing late and increasing in sunlight even as fruit is picked; medium to thin skin that does not crack; cream, firm, juicy, fine flesh, "Sub acid to sweet", aroma "Distinct, complex and highly aromatic", weak browning when cut; 13.6% sugar at harvest (average of 10 fruit); very vigorous, upright habit like Lady Williams; chilling estimated at less than 400 hours below 7 °C; a four- to six-week flowering season in October and November; precocious, fruiting on one-year-old upright growth; high tolerance to sunburn and no bitter pit in preliminary storage tests; first and last pickings about 1 and 10 May at Manjimup; up to six months in cold storage and 10–12 months in controlled atmosphere, retail shelf life about four weeks at 15–18 °C; use dessert and market.
  2. John Cripps horticulture scholarship: frequently asked questions, Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD), Western Australia, 2025. Supports: in 1973 John Cripps, of the Department of Agriculture WA, given permission to begin the first apple breeding programme in Western Australia, aiming to combine Golden Delicious with "the firm, storable Lady Williams (a local variety)"; "a total of 108,000 crossed seedlings were planted"; the trees fruiting by 1983, and the following spring one cross found to have kept well over winter with good appearance, taste, crispness and juiciness, which became Cripps Pink; selected in 1984; its fruit sold under the trade mark Pink Lady, a name Cripps himself came up with; the mark launched in 1991 and called "the world's first apple 'brand'"; only fruit passing tests of firmness, sugar content (brix) and skin redness sold as Pink Lady, fruit "not up to standard" sold as Cripps Pink, "the variety name".
  3. Thirty-seven apple varieties of Australian origin, Stephen J. Tancred, Aldo G. Zeppa and James N. Cummins, Fruit Varieties Journal 48(2): 118–125, American Pomological Society, 1994-04. Supports: larger-scale breeding begun by the Western Australian Department of Agriculture in 1972 (p. 119); Cripps's apples combining the keeping quality of Lady Williams, called the seed parent, with the fruit quality of Golden Delicious, called the pollen parent (pp. 121, 123); Table 1 (p. 122), whose pedigrees are seed parent first: Golden Delicious × Lady Williams, Stoneville, WA, 1973, for both Cripps Pink and Cripps Red, listed under the names Pink Lady and Sundowner; Cripps Pink the most planted of three Cripps apples, very vigorous and producing pale fruit if not managed correctly; Cripps Red less vigorous, with darker, slightly sweeter fruit; both grown under trial worldwide (p. 123).
  4. Hidden women of history: how 'Lady' Williams founded a great Australian apple, Susan Broomhall, The Conversation, 2023-01-17. Supports: in the early 1970s a team led by John Cripps at the Western Australian Department of Agriculture's new apple-breeding programme experimenting with Lady Williams and Golden Delicious; in 1984 one of over 100,000 seedlings producing a bright pink, crisp, long-storing fruit; Cripps having "a hand in both its names", the variety name, Cripps Pink, and the commercial name, Pink Lady, marked in the article as a registered trade mark.
  5. Fresh Facts 2025, pp. 16–17: Sector profile – apples, United Fresh New Zealand, 2025. Supports: "New Zealand Apple Exports by Variety 2025", from Stats NZ harmonised export data accessed on 19 August 2025: Cripps Pink 5.5%; "Between 2022 and 2025, the total planted area of Braeburn, Cripps Pink" and a third variety, listed under its trade mark, "declined by one-third" (citing the Ministry for Primary Industries, June 2025).
  6. International Standards for Fruit and Vegetables: Apples, pp. 49 and 51: Non-Exhaustive List of Apple Varieties, OECD Publishing, Paris (explanatory brochure on the UNECE standard for apples, FFV-50, 2020 version), 2021. Supports: a list of varieties whose fourth column gives known trade marks under which a variety may be marketed, "for information only", the first three columns being meant for varietal names and synonyms, not trade marks (p. 49); Pink Lady and Flavor Rose given as the trade marks of Cripps Pink (p. 51).

All 16 varieties from Australia