Apple tree `Rico Red`

#A nonspur type red delicious apple tree, this new and distinct cultivar originated as a single limb mutation in the lower whorl of branches of a central leader tree in the MTM Orchards east of Royal City, Wash. Reproduced by budding in those orchards through successive generations, this new variety of tree exhibits the bark, foliage, blossoming, bearing, spur and growth characteristics of its red delicious parent, a well-known, distinct variety produced and marketed by Van Well Nursery, Inc., of Wenatchee, Wash., under the name "Sharp Red"; but it differs from its parent in the fruit produced.

#The earlier coloration and maturity of its fruit, even under vigorous conditions, makes this cultivar genetically new and unique. It has exhibited the ability to set a crop in the third or fourth leaf without plant growth regulator use. Its fruit size, color and quality are second to none.

#FIG. 1 is a photographic side view and FIG. 2 a calyx end view of apples, those in the middle (labelled "Rico") being of the new variety and those on opposite sides thereof, for purposes of comparison, being of the Sharp red delicious variety.

#The new tree, upon visual examination, reveals the morphological and anatomical characteristics of its parent, referred to above. However, its production of early season, highly colored fruit, sufficiently mature for the late summer and early fall markets give this new variety major economic importance in the orchard industry.

#In more specific terms, fruit of the new variety is described as follows:

#Fruit: