|
UK National Fruit Collections | |
A National Fruit Collection was first established in Chiswick, London in the early 1800s by the Horticultural Society (now the Royal Horticultural Society) under the guidance of Thomas Andrew Knight. The origin of the Collection resulted from a need to establish correct nomenclature and accurate cultivar descriptions of temperate fruits grown in the United Kingdom. The first catalogue, published in 1826, listed some 1400 apple, 677 pear and 360 gooseberry cultivars, although many of these were subsequently shown to be synonyms.
Fruit also had a prominent place at the RHS Garden Wisley, in Surrey. Work on fruit crops at Wisley was formalised by the establishment of the National Fruit Trials there in 1921. The fruit collections assembled at Wisley were relocated to Brogdale between 1952 and 1954, when the Ministry of Agriculture (now the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, DEFRA) assumed complete funding. The Collections were substantially developed under the direction of J M S Potter (between 1936 and 1972). A programme of evaluating new varieties was combined with National Fruit Collections at the Brogdale Experimental Horticulture Station, which afforded the Station a world-wide reputation as an authority on temperate fruit varieties.
Initially, the nomenclature of varieties held in the Collections was confused. This was due to free exchange of propagating material both nationally and internationally, and to the readiness of nursery owners to give new names to varieties for commercial reasons. While developing the Collection, J M S Potter initiated the task of determining the correct nomenclature for thousands of varieties. This work culminated, in part, in the publication of the National Apple Register of the United Kingdom (Smith, 1971).
In 1988 the Collections were registered with the National Council for the Conservation of Plants and Gardens (NCCPG) under the National Collections scheme.
In 1990 the ownership of the Brogdale site was transferred to the Brogdale Horticultural Trust. However, the ownership of the Collections continues to remain with DEFRA, who support their maintenance and development through a research commission held jointly by Imperial College at Wye and the Brogdale Horticultural Trust.
 |
nfc@ic.ac.uk | Last updated 23 November 2001 |