Rambo apple

Apple 'Rambo'
Genus	Malus
Species	Malus pumila
Cultivar	'Rambo'
Origin	Known in North America before 1817

The origins of the 'Rambo' apple cultivar are unknown. It may date back to the American colony of New Sweden, when in 1637 Peter Gunnarsson Rambo, a Swedish immigrant, arrived on the Kalmar Nyckel. Swedish natural historian Pehr Kalm, who wrote Travels in North America, 1747–51, took notes of his interview with Mr. Peter Rambo, grandson of Peter Gunnarsson Rambo, recording that the ″original Peter Rambo had brought apple seeds and several other tree and garden seeds with him in a box.″ The first Rambo apple tree may have been produced from one of these seeds, or the tree could have been developed by one of the first Rambo's descendants. There is no certainty, since the earliest documented mention of the apple variety's origin occurs in William Coxe's A View of the Cultivation of Fruit Trees, and the Management of Orchards and Cider, published in 1817. Coxe wrote only that the Rambo was much cultivated in Delaware, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey and took "its name from the families by whom it was introduced into notice." Since apple trees do not grow true from seed, and Rambo brought seeds, not scionwood, if the first Rambo tree grew from one of those seeds, the variety would be one of the first truly American apples. The name Rambo was most likely derived from Peter Gunnarsson's Swedish home on Ramberget (or "Raven Mountain") on the island of Hisingen, which today is part of Gothenburg, but in Gunnarsson's time was mostly farmland. One translation of "bo" from Swedish to English is "resident."

The greenish yellow apple with dull red stripes ripens from mid-summer to early fall. Little known today, the Rambo was once widely grown, but in a limited geographical range from the mid-Atlantic states west into the middle Prairie states. It was also found in Oregon and Northern California. The apple was beloved for its distinctive flavor and aroma, as well as its versatility. The apple has been rated very good to excellent for fresh eating, cooking and baking, jelly, and drying. In ″[1] Varieties of Apples in Ohio]″ (1915), the "little old-fashioned Rambo" was said to have been found "in almost every old orchard in Ohio." In 1847, the Rambo was included among the 18 varieties of apple trees that Henderson Luelling of Salem, Iowa brought with his family along the Oregon Trail to establish the first orchard in the Pacific Northwest.

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Wikipedia