This beautiful variety was first brought into notice by Mr. George Lindley, who found it growing in a small garden near Surrey Street Gates, Norwich, where it had originated about the year 1770. Mr. Lindley first propagated it in 1793, and the original tree died about seven years afterwards.
IDENTIFICATION AND FIGURE.--Pom. Heref. t. 21. Lind Guide, 101.
Fruit, somewhat long, irregularly shaped, broad at the base, and narrow at the apex, but sometimes broader at the middle than either of the extremities. A few obtuse angles terminate at the eye, which is small and nearly closed, with very short segments. Stalk, half-an-inch long, and very slender. Skin, dingy colored russety grey in the shade; and shaded on the sunny side with numerous streaks and patches of orange color and muddy red.
The specific gravity of the juice is 1073.
This is a good cider apple, and produces liquor of great excellence when mixed with other varieties. It is chiefly grown in the deep strong soils of the south-west part of Herefordshire, and is common in the district known as the Golden Vale. Knight says it was a very old variety, and was known previous to the 17th century, but I have not been able to find any record of it in the early works on Pomology.
IDENTIFICATION.--Hort Soc. Cat. ed. 3, n. 534. Lind. Guide, 64.
Fruit, medium sized; pearmain-shaped. Skin, dull green with broken stripes of dull red, on the side next the sun. Eye, small, set in a shallow and slightly plaited basin. Stalk, deeply inserted in a round cavity, scarcely protruding beyond the base. Flesh, yellowish white, crisp, juicy, brisk, and aromatic.
A dessert apple, in use from December to January.
It received its name from a gentleman of the name of Benwell, of Henley-on-Thames, from whom it was received, and brought into cultivation by Kirke, a nurseryman at Brompton.
IDENTIFICATION.--Hort. Trans. vol. v. p. 400. Hort. Soc. Cat. ed. 3, n. 55. Lind. Guide, 10.
Fruit, medium sized; round, and slightly flattened. Skin, pale green, and changing to yellow as it ripens, with stripes of red next the sun. Eye, open, placed in a wide and shallow basin. Stalk, inserted in a deep cavity. Flesh, crisp, juicy, and briskly acid.
An excellent culinary apple, in use during September and October.