Cultivar 620: Cardinal

Cardinal is a shared cultivar name in this packet and applies to at least two distinct fruit groups: apple/crabapple in prairie and Midwestern sources, and a purple-cane raspberry in South Dakota sources. Treat these as separate cultivars unless a record links taxonomy and context directly. [S1] [S3] [S4]

In the prairie apple record, Cardinal is attributed to N. Pankiw of Dufrost, Manitoba, dated 1936, and noted as seed from Ukraine. [S1] [S2] It is coded CR, indicating a crabapple or applecrab type with fruit under 5 cm in diameter. [S1] The same source says the name was also used for an ornamental introduction by Richard Wellington of Geneva, New York, confirming name reuse in one record. [S1]

A separate apple entry in a Northwest bulletin gives a fuller description. It treats Cardinal as a provisional name for a root-sprout from Early Pennock in Dallas County, Iowa, shown at the Iowa State Fair in September 1902. [S3] The fruit is described as very large and regular, conical, light solid red, with few gray russet dots. The stem is very short, basin narrow and shallow, core small, and calyx closed. [S3] Flesh is whitish, tender, pleasant subacid with sweet aftertaste, and August is given as the storage period. [S3] It is placed in the solid red class with a conical tube and basal stamens. [S3]

No direct zone rating or explicit survival statement is given for the apple/crabapple Cardinal entries. The evidence is indirect: inclusion in prairie compilations and station-style coding implies regional focus but not a measured hardiness claim. [S1] [S3]

In bramble materials, Cardinal is a separate purple-cane raspberry introduced on A. H. Griesa grounds in Lawrence, Kansas, in 1888, probably from Shaffer. [S4] It is reported as not hardy enough at that station, but later listed as one of the better purple-cap options for growers who still choose such types under altitude and climate limits. [S4]

No direct parentage chain, full breeding-line history, disease notes, or management guidance is provided for the apple/crabapple Cardinal records beyond seed origin and origin narrative. [S1] [S3] The packet also does not provide sibling or descendant links. [S4]

Dates remain inconsistent across uses of the same name: 1888 in the raspberry note, 1902 in the provisional apple fair record, and 1936 in the prairie apple entry. [S3] [S2] [S4]

Summary source basis

• S1: Edible Apples in Prairie Canada
• S2: An index of fruit cultivars tested or developed on the Canadian prairies.
• S3: A Study of Northwestern Apples
• S4: Raspberries, Blackberries and Dewberries

This summary currently draws chiefly from A Study of Northwestern Apples, with 3 additional supporting sources linked below.

Featured source descriptions

“Provisional name for a variety appearing as a root-sprout from an Early Pennock tree that killed to the ground in Dallas county, Iowa.”
— ^[1]

“N. Pankiw, Dufrost, Manitoba.”
— ^[3]

“Seed came from the Ukraine.”
— ^[2]

“Anote says this name was also applied to an ornamental introduction by Richard Wellington of Geneva, New York.”
— ^[2]

Direct parent cultivars

• No direct linked parent cultivars promoted yet.

Parentage claim text

• No direct breeding_cross claim text yet.

Derived or downstream cultivar links

• No derived or downstream lineage links yet.

Source-story quotations

• Cardinal—Provisional name for a variety appearing as a root-sprout from an Early Pennock tree that killed to the ground in Dallas county, Iowa; fruit shown at Iowa state fair, September, 1902.—Fruit very large, regular, conical; surface uniform, rather light solid red; dots distinct, few, minute, gray, a few large russA Study of Northwestern Apples, p37
• Cardinal—Provisional name for a variety appearing as a root-sprout from an Early Pennock tree that killed to the ground in Dallas county, Iowa; fruit shown at Iowa state fair, September, 1902.—Fruit very large, regular, conical; surface uniform, rather light solid red; dots distinct, few, minute, gray, a few large russA Study of Northwestern Apples, p37
• Cardinal—Provisional name for a variety appearing as a root-sprout from an Early Pennock tree that killed to the ground in Dallas county, Iowa; fruit shown at Iowa state fair, September, 1902.—Fruit very large, regular, conical; surface uniform, rather light solid red; dots distinct, few, minute, gray, a few large russA Study of Northwestern Apples, p37
• Cardinal—Provisional name for a variety appearing as a root-sprout from an Early Pennock tree that killed to the ground in Dallas county, Iowa; fruit shown at Iowa state fair, September, 1902.—Fruit very large, regular, conical; surface uniform, rather light solid red; dots distinct, few, minute, gray, a few large russA Study of Northwestern Apples, p37

Taxonomy context: No family-tree context surfaced yet.

Related cultivars mentioned in source context