Forest Beauty (Alexandrina, Marie-Louise)

Autumn Belgian variety, accidentally discovered by Châtillon in the early 19th century in a forest near Allost in eastern Flanders (Belgium).

Widely grown in Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Lithuania, Estonia, and the republics of Central Asia. It has been tested and recommended for cultivation in the North Caucasus and Lower Volga regions.

Medium-sized tree, fast-growing in its youth, with a broad pyramidal crown and slightly drooping branches. Moderate leafiness. Fruits are mostly borne on 3-4-year-old wood.

Shoots are thick, straight or slightly curved, dark red with few medium-sized lenticels. Buds are small with a metallic sheen. Leaf margin is finely toothed or finely serrated, petiole thin and long.

Flowers are small, pinkish. Blooms in mid-season. Flowers are resistant to spring temperature fluctuations. Partially self-fertile.

Medium-sized fruits, egg-shaped. Skin is thin but fairly firm, slightly rough, greenish-yellow when picked, turning golden-yellow with gray spots, rust-colored patches, and bright rosy blush on the sun-exposed side during ripening. Peduncle is short, moderately thick, with a flared top, straight. Blossom cup is small and narrow. Calyx is open. Receptacle is small, wide, smooth. Heart-shaped seed cavity, weakly defined by small rocky formations. Seed chambers are closed or semi-closed, elongated, egg-shaped; axis hollow. Seeds are large, pointed, well-developed, dark brown.

Flesh is yellowish-white, tender, juicy, oily, tart-sweet, with high flavor quality. In Kuban conditions, the variety contains: sugars — 8.5%, titratable acids — 0.23%, dry matter — 13.8%, ascorbic acid — 7.4 mg/100g, P-active catechins — 35.3 mg/100g of fresh weight.

Harvesting maturity occurs in late August (August 20–30), with a shelf life of 15–20 days. Harvesting should occur 5–10 days before full maturity; otherwise, fruits rapidly overripen, drop off, and do not store well. Overripe fruits become “fluffy.” Fruits are primarily consumed fresh, but are also suitable for making compotes.

Best pollinators are varieties: Lemonka, Williams, Josefine Mechelska.

Performs well on wild forest pear and quince.

Trees grafted onto vigorous rootstocks begin fruiting in the 6th–7th year, and on quince — in the 4th–5th year.

Fruit production is annual, though quantity varies from year to year. Average yield in the central Kuban region at ages 12–15 years reaches 140–160 centners per hectare; in the eastern Kuban subzone at ages 17–20 years — 120 centners per hectare.

The variety is not particular about soil conditions: grows well on moderately moist soils; tolerates relatively dry soils, but especially thrives and fruits well on deep, fertile, loose soils. Trees of this variety are long-lived.

Among all Western European varieties, Forest Beauty is the most winter-hardy. Drought resistance is also high, but it is very susceptible to scab.

Advantages of the variety: high fruit flavor quality, winter hardiness, high tree yields, low requirement for growing conditions.

Disadvantages of the variety: strong susceptibility of fruits and leaves to scab, fruit drop.

Forest Beauty has been widely used as a parent variety in breeding, with more than 30 varieties developed using it, including 11 varieties included in the State Register (tested and recommended), such as: Dessert Rossohanska and Marble (both developed from crosses of Bere Zimnya Michurina × Forest Beauty) by the Rossohanskaya Zonal Fruit and Berry Experimental Station, Dubovskaya Rannaya (Williams × Forest Beauty) by the Dubovskoy Experimental Station of the Lower Volga Research Institute of Fruit Growing, Lada (Olga × Forest Beauty) by the Moscow Agricultural Academy, Lyubimitsa Klappa (Forest Beauty — open pollination) by American breeder T. Klappa (USA), Nevvelichka (Ussuriyskaya × Seedling of Forest Beauty) by the Krasnoyarsk Fruit Growing Experimental Station.