Jacksonville Review – December 2025 / December 2026
TO IDENTIFY AND PRESERVE a part of Jacksonville’s orchard history, a small group of us are investigating the heritage of old apple trees on the Britt grounds. We located five trees on the city’s Lower Britt Gardens (Trees 1-5) and five on the Britt Festival site (Trees 6-10). Six of these trees are in decline from age and being overshadowed by other trees, including the sequoia for three of them.
In 2023, with the consent of the city and the Britt Festival, we sampled a ripe apple from each of the trees to be sure that they were edible (thus increasing the likelihood that they were intentionally planted. We then sent 6-8 apples each from eight of the trees to the Lost Apple Project in Washington state, where project experts collaborated with MyFruitTree Lab experts at Washington State University (WSU) to make their best guess as to the apple varieties. We were unable to reach enough apples from Trees 3 and 4. This process was free, except for the cost of shipping.
These results came back in July of 2024. There were four that they seemed fairly sure of, three they only guessed at, and one they had no idea about. They requested that we consider resending apples from four of the trees. 2024 was a poor apple year and we were only able to send apples from Tree 7. It turned out that this tree, which they were originally fairly sure of, was unidentified but determined not to be what they thought. In 2024, we also sent leaves for basic DNA, at a cost of $55, from Tree 3.
After discussing the results with the city and with Britt, they each were willing to pay for basic DNA on the rest of the trees. This was done in 2025. Trees 1, 6, and 8 are Baldwins, Trees 3 and 4 are Gravensteins, and Tree 10 is a Gloria Mundi (the only one they guessed correctly). The other four are classified as “unique”—not in WSU’s extensive database of over 2600 varieties. Tree 2 was called “special” since one of its parents, Unknown American Founder #4 (UAF4), is a parent of many old cultivars in North America.
The four “uniques” could be original plantings obtained from an unknown source or one-off seedlings of the original trees planted by the Britts. It is possible to get a “full” test of these four at WSU, which costs $150 per tree, in order to accurately determine full parentage and add to our understanding of the original orchard. As described by a Ph.D. student at WSU, “We conduct DNA profiling for apple cultivar identification as a research opportunity offered to the public, especially hoping to discover old apples that are missing ancestors in the cultivated apple genealogical tree.”
Two of these unique trees are in the city’s Britt Gardens and two are on the Britt Festival grounds. All four of them have flavorful apples and are worth saving. This would need to be done by grafting cuttings from these trees onto other trees or rootstock, as apple seeds do not reproduce true to their parents. These four are all in decline and this should be done before they are lost forever. Interestingly, since these are unique, Jacksonville and the Britt Festival are free to name them as they wish.
Carol Knapp can be contacted at knappcarolr@gmail.com.