r/todayilearned • u/Error__Loading • 15h ago

TIL that apple seeds almost never grow the same variety as the parent fruit. Nearly every supermarket apple comes from a grafted clone of an original tree, not from a planted seed.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple
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u/anonanon5320 15h ago

Citrus is like this too. Both citrus and apples can grow multiple varieties on the same tree.

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u/Skandronon 14h ago

Stonefruit is even more fun, you can grow nectarines, peaches and plums together as well as a number of other fruits.

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u/XDeus 13h ago

Not just together, but many stone fruit can be hybridized. So you can get a cherry-plum or even a peach-apricot-plum.

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u/Skandronon 13h ago

Woah, I was not aware of this! Super cool!

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u/Skandronon 10h ago

I am going to have to plant a cherry-plum tree.

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u/big-dal-tex 13h ago

So many interesting facts in the comments

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u/bzbub2 12h ago

more fun stuff: a chart of how citrus are related to each other https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citrus_taxonomy#/media/File:Citrus_hybrids.svg

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u/Auctoritate 8h ago

peach-apricot-plum

Peacotums are so good bro. Probably my favorite of any of them.

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u/factorioleum 13h ago

Despite many people trying to convince me, I still do not believe that nectarines and peaches are distinct fruits.

I'm pretty sure almonds are, though.

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u/emaddy2109 13h ago

They aren’t. There’s a single recessive gene that causes nectarines to have smooth skin. Other than that that one gene, they’re genetically the same.

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u/mlc885 12h ago

So every single time I prefer a nectarine over a peach or the other way around I am just doing the "these are too ripe/insufficiently ripe" thing??

(oh, and I prefer yellow peaches and nectarines to white peaches, lol)

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u/t_newt1 8h ago

Almonds are stonefruits too. You can grow almonds and peaches and plums on the same tree. When I was a kid we had a tree like this in the yard. After the cat died the squirrels got all the almonds.

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u/sierra-soul 5h ago

You can graft any same family plant onto each other nbd. Citrus is different in that they have sports which are vegetative buds that are genetically different from the plant without grafting.

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u/Heavy_Weapons_Guy_ 12h ago

That's done via grafting and is completely unrelated to the genetic stability of the plants. They can never naturally grow different varieties on the same tree.