Apple Solntsedar

Summer variety from the Sverdlovsk Experimental Garden Station. Obtained by P. A. Dibrov from sowing seeds of Anise of the Vorbyshevsk variety, resulting from open pollination. Registered in the State Register of Selection Achievements for the Volga-Vyatka and Ural regions.

Medium-sized tree with a broadly round, slightly dense, fairly compact crown, slightly drooping in older specimens. Main branches with brown bark, branching off the trunk at a wide angle. Young branches are slender, with short multi-year rings, on which fruiting is concentrated starting from three- to four-year-old wood, and with age even on two-year-old wood.

Medium-thick shoots, circular in cross-section, with short internodes, dark brown, densely hairy. Leaves of medium size, thick, slightly shiny, with a noticeable bluish tint, flat, elongated-oval or elongated-egg-shaped, base rounded, apex tapered with a point. Leaves are heavily hairy underneath, arranged at a right angle to the shoot, with rounded-sawtoothed margins; some leaves have segments and lobes. Petioles thick, medium length, with very fine, awl-shaped stipules.

Flowers are fairly large, dish-shaped, white with a pinkish tinge; stigma styles are positioned at the same level or slightly below the anthers. Buds are pink.

Fruits of medium or slightly smaller size, with a flat-round or broad-oval truncated shape, sometimes with slight blunt ridges. Skin smooth, dry, shiny, covered with a bluish waxy bloom. Subcutaneous dots large, light-colored. Main color is light cream, nearly white; surface coating is a dense reddish-purple pattern covering most of the fruit surface, often blending into a diffuse, exceptionally bright and ornamental appearance. Peduncle short, medium thickness. Calyx of medium width and depth, slightly rusted. Dish small with pearls (nodules); cup half-open. Subcupular tube close to sac-like. Seed chambers closed, central cavity not expressed.

Flesh snowy-white, coarse-grained, with red veins, good tart-sweet flavor, occasionally with a mild bitter aftertaste. Chemical composition: dry extract substances — 12.8% (up to 15.7%), total sugars — 10.2% (up to 12.3%), titratable acids — 0.86%, ascorbic acid — 11.7 mg/100g (up to 23.2 mg/100g), P-active substances (catechins) — 176 mg/100g (up to 267 mg/100g).

Fruits ripen in early August and begin to drop, consumed over a 10-day period. Possess an exceptionally beautiful appearance.

Self-sterile variety, requires cross-pollination.

Trees begin fruiting on the 7th year after grafting. Distinguished by high yield; with aging, they transition to alternate bearing. Winter hardiness of Sunshine Gift is high.

Fruits and leaves are susceptible to scab.

Advantages of the variety: exceptional fruit beauty, fruit size, winter hardiness, high yield, early ripening.

Disadvantages of the variety: alternate bearing, susceptibility to scab.