Final apple
Malus Caroli – Finale Apple
In 1810, the Italian botanist Gallesio, convinced that no French apple could rival the varieties of his country, had a crate of Finale Apples brought from Italy, which he distributed to a few privileged Parisians.
Pierre-Antoine Poiteau was among them. Convinced by the excellence of this fruit, he immediately included it in his Traité des Arbres Fruitiers (Treatise on Fruit Trees).
This apple, named after the city of Finale in the Genoa region where it was particularly cultivated, was so highly esteemed that it was shipped as far as Portugal in compartmentalized crates.
The anecdote reports that an apple, forgotten during unpacking and returned a year later to Genoa, was still "perfectly sound and very good to eat," an exceptional testament to its storage capacity.
The Finale Apple, also known as Charles's Apple in Italy, is distinguished by its great variability in shape, size, and color. It always narrows towards the top, where a narrow depression bordered by ribs shelters a tiny, closed eye. Its peduncle, long and thin, is inserted into a narrow and deep cavity.
Its skin, initially almost white, smooth, and remarkably resistant despite its fineness, takes on a light red color on the side exposed to the sun, dotted with a few yellow spots.
From November-December, reddish-brown spots gradually appear, extending to cover almost the entire fruit by May-June, a natural phenomenon that does not alter the flesh in any way.
The flesh remains white, extremely fine, melting, with a delicious fragrance and pleasantly tart juice. The locules, small to medium, each contain two short, compressed, brown seeds.
This plate is taken from the Traité des Arbres Fruitiers by Pierre-Antoine Poiteau and Pierre Jean François Turpin, a botanical encyclopedia published between 1807 and 1835, a major reference in 19th-century naturalist illustration.
It combines the rigor of scientific drawing with a rare artistic sensibility, characteristic of the great plates from the golden age of illustrated botany.