Cultivar or Racehorse?: Apples

Time for the next installment in my periodic Cultivar or Racehorse? series. This round of Cultivar or Racehorse? features apples. There are so many apple cultivars, you guys. So. Many. And so many of them have really goofy names. It was hard to narrow it down to just a few choices; there will definitely be another round of Cultivar or Racehorse? Apples Edition in the future.

(Aside: I love doing these posts but formatting in Blogger is a pain in the ass, holy shit!)

Anyway, away we go!

Can you guess whether the names below are an apple cultivar or a racehorse?


1. Big Brown

Apple cultivar...

...or racehorse?

...


...


...


...

It's a racehorse!

2. SuperMac

Apple cultivar...

...or racehorse?

...



...



...



...

It's an apple!

3. Desert Gold

Apple cultivar...

...or racehorse?

...



...



....

It's a racehorse!

4. Frankel

Apple cultivar...

...or racehorse?

...


...


...

It's a racehorse!

5. Braeburn

Apple cultivar...

...or racehorse?

...


...


...

It's an apple!

6. Enterprise

Apple cultivar...

...or racehorse?

...


...


...

It's an apple!

7. Varenne

Apple cultivar...

...or racehorse?

...


...


...

It's a racehorse!

How'd you do? Feeling up to more Cultivar or Racehorse? Then you can try my earlier "Pears" edition. Let me know on Twitter how you did, and if you have suggestions for future Cultivar or Racehorse? rounds!






Photo credits:

• Apples: Arien, bhjoco, cooee, cherylholt, dodgerton_skillhause, stachoo, and lisa-leo at Morguefile.com
• Horses: jade, seriousfun, jade, GaborFromHungary, Limp182, frequenceturf, and ainslieGP at Morguefile.com

Cultivar or Racehorse?: Pears

My favorite thing about editing agronomics, botany papers was the great cultivar names. Potential blog segment: "Cultivar or race horse"?

— Kokoba Jewelry (@kokoba42) August 29, 2016

That potential blog segment is now an actual blog segment!

First of all, "cultivar"? What's a cultivar?

A cultivar is a kind of plant bred specifically by humans for certain traits, kind of like dog breeds. Those apple names you see in the grocery store? Those are cultivars, initially bred from the species Malus pumila. So you have Malus pumila 'Red Delicious,' Malus pumila 'Granny Smith,' Malus pumila 'Gala,' and so on. You can also have interspecific cultivars—a cultivar that is a cross between two different species. Generally speaking, a species is a plant that evolved on its own, and a cultivar is the result of deliberate human breeding.


I have a lot of great cultivars waiting in the wings; today I'll start the challenge with a few pears.



1. Bartlett

Pear cultivar...

...or racehorse?

...


...


...


...

It's a pear!

2. American Pharaoh

Pear cultivar...

...or racehorse?

...



...



...

It's a racehorse!

3. Black Caviar

Pear cultivar...

...or racehorse?

...



...



....

It's a racehorse!

4. Stinking Bishop

Pear cultivar...

...or racehorse?

...


...


...

It's a pear!

5. Warden

Pear cultivar...

...or racehorse?

...


...


...

It's a pear!

6. Hambletonian 10

Pear cultivar...

...or racehorse?

...


...


...

It's a racehorse!

7. Le Conte

Pear cultivar...

...or racehorse?

...


...


...

It's a pear!

So, how'd you do on this first round of "Cultivar or Racehorse"? Comment or tweet at me!






Photo credits:

• Pears: JasonGillman, pippalou, gleangenie, hotblack, MichelleBulgaria, hotblack, and jdurham at Morguefile.com.
• Horses: jade, seriousfun, jade, GaborFromHungary, Limp182, frequenceturf, and ainslieGP at Morguefile.com