TheFlower of Kent is agreencultivar of cookingapple. It is pear-shaped, mealy, and sub-acid, and of generally poor quality by today's standards. As its name suggests, this cultivar likely originated fromKent, England.[1]
Though now largely gone from commercial cultivation, a handful of Flower of Kent trees remain. Most, if not all, are said to descend from trees at Newton'sWoolsthorpe Manor, and nearly all that exist descend from a single tree inEast Malling, Kent. One such tree is located in the President's Garden at theMassachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States, although it is known to have produced only one apple.[2] Currently, this cultivar remains available at Antique Apple Orchard Inc. in Sweet Home, Oregon.[3]
According to the story, this is the appleIsaac Newton sawfalling to the ground from its tree, inspiring his laws ofuniversal gravitation.
TheNational Fruit Collection atBrogdale[4] contains an example, listed as "Isaac Newton's Tree" (1948-729).
