Under the name of _Lady Apple_, large quantities of the Api are annually imported to this country from the United States, where it is grown to a great extent, and produces a considerable return to the growers, as it always commands the highest price of any other fancy apple in the market. In the winter months, they may be seen encircled with various coloured tissue papers, adorning the windows of the fruiterers in Covent Garden Market.
There are other varieties mentioned by J. B. Porta as belonging to the Api family; one which ripened in August, in size like the Claudiana already mentioned, and commonly called _Melo Appio Rosso_, because it retained the scent of the Api; this is probably the Rother Sommer-api of Diel. There is another, of which he says, “Assererem tuto esse Melapium Plinii,” and which was held in such estimation as to give rise to the proverb--
IDENTIFICATION.--Duh. Arb. Fr. 1, 312. Hort. Soc. Cat. ed. 3.
SYNONYMES.--Pomme Rose, _Quint. Traité_, I. 203, but not of Knoop. Pomme d’Api Gros. _Ron. Pyr. Mal._ 39. Passe-rose, _Chart. Cat._ 55. Grosser Api, Rosenapi, _Diel Kernobst._ iv., 228. Api Rose. Doppelter Api, _Acc. Christ Handworter_. Rubenapfel, _Ibid._ Api Grand, _Ibid._
Fruit, below medium size, two inches and three quarters wide, and two inches high; oblate. Skin, pale green, changing as it ripens to pale yellow on the shaded side, and pale red, mottled with green, where exposed to the sun. Eye, small and closed, set in a shallow and plaited basin. Stalk, short, inserted in a wide, rather deep, and russety cavity. Flesh, greenish, tender, crisp, very juicy, and briskly flavored.
Suitable either for the dessert, or for culinary purposes; it is inferior to the Api and not a first-rate apple. In use from December to March. The tree has much similarity to the Api in its growth, and is a good bearer.
This is a variety of the preceding, and closely resembles it in all its parts, except that it is much larger. “La Pomme Rose resemble extremement partout son exterieur a la Pomme d’Apis, mais à mon goût elle ne la vaut pas quoy que puissent dire les curieux du Rhône, qui la veulent autant élever aussi au dessus des autres, qu’ils élevent la Poire Chat au dessus des autres Poires.”--_De Quintinye._