Historical Name: America鈥檚 First Delicious
Common Name: Apple
Latin Name: Malus sylvestris
Winterset, Iowa is home to the first tree bearing apples called 鈥�Delicious.鈥� In the years following the Civil War, the people of Iowa had passed the pioneer stage. The soil was modified by tillage and extensive fields of corn had broken the windsweep of earlier prairie days. In the 1870s Jesse Hiatt lived in a one-room log cabin with his wife and ten children. One day he noticed a chance seedling that appeared vigorous, but was out of row with the apple trees he had planted. He cut the tree down but the next spring it was up again and larger than before. Six years later it produced fruit which caused Hiatt to exclaim, 鈥�Ma, this is the best apple in the whole world!鈥� He called the elongated fruit 鈥�Hawkeye.鈥� The rights to the apple tree were bought in 1894 and it was renamed the 鈥�Delicious鈥� apple by the Stark Brothers Nursery of Missouri. In 1922 a monument was erected in City Park in Winterset, dedicated to the well-loved apple. 鈥�Delicious鈥� apples of various colors were the most grown apples in the US for over 75 years. 鈥�Delicious鈥� apples were hybridized with other apple varieties to yield the better tasting 鈥�Gala鈥� apple, which currently is the most grown apple in our country. The apple tree in the UCNJ Historic Tree Grove grew from a seed taken from the fruit of a second-generation of America鈥檚 First Delicious Apple Tree, and was planted into UCNJ鈥檚 Historic Tree Grove in 2004.
(text adapted from American Forests)