Inter-specific fruit trees

Hybrid fruit varieties arising from crosses between fruits of different species.

• Melitopolski Cherny

  

  Melitopolski Cherny is a dark red hybrid apricot / cherry plum which ripens in mid-July, also known as a Black Apricot.

  • Picking season: Early
  • Self-fertility: Partially self-fertile
  • Flowering group: 3

• Sanguine de Wismes

  Sanguine de Wismes is an unusual hybrid red-fleshed dessert plum.

  23.25€buy

  • Picking season: Early
  • Self-fertility: Self-fertile
  • Flowering group: 1

• Shipova

  

  Shipova is a rare pear / whitebeam hybrid, producing small pear-like edible fruits.

  • Self-fertility: Self-fertile
  • Flowering group: 4

How to choose Inter-specific fruit trees

New fruit varieties are usually developed by crossing varieties of the same species. However new varieties can also arise from inter-breeding between varieties of different (but related) species. These are known as hybrid or inter-specific fruit varieties.

Hybridisation is particularly common in stone fruits such as plums, cherries, and apricots. Indeed the common plum (Prunus domestica) is thought to be natural hybrid between a sloe (Prunus spinosa) and a cherry-plum (Prunus cerasifera).

Although most modern hybrid fruit varieties are developed in university-led research programmes, they are not genetically modified (GMOs). The development process is still based on the old-fashioned technique of taking pollen from one variety and pollinating another in the hope of producing a new variety. However modern genetic knowledge makes it easier to combine the desirable characteristics of different parents.

Apricots are a particular focus in the development of new inter-specific fruit varieties because they naturally produce larger fruits than cherries or plums, and will easily cross-pollinate with them.