Core blimey! It's the red and green apple with a split personality
When Ken Morrish picked this apple off a tree in his garden, he thought a prankster had painted half of it red.
But after inspecting it closely he realised that the remarkable split colours on the fruit were a natural phenomenon. And the bizarre apple turned Mr Morrish into something of a celebrity in his village with scores of neighbours queuing up to take a photograph of it.
Experts say that the odds of finding an apple with such a perfect line between the green and the red are more than 1million to one.
A fruit of two halves: This Golden Delicious apple seems to be having an identity crisis, split perfectly down the middle into red and green. Local horticulture experts are baffled by the specimen
But Mr Morrish, a retired painter and decorator who lives in Colaton Raleigh, near Sidmouth in Devon, has no plans to eat it.
Instead, he has stored it in his fridge so villagers can continue to come round and take photos.
'It looks as if a green apple and a red apple has been cut in half and stuck together,' he said. 'I couldn't believe my eyes. It's absolutely phenomenal.
The 72-year-old pensioner spotted the split-coloured fruit as he picked apples from a Golden Delicious tree in his garden.
One in a million: Ken Morrish could hardly believe his eyes when he saw the freaky fruit.
Horticulturists say the colourings on the apple are probably caused by a random genetic mutation.
In such cases, the red side usually tastes sweeter than the green side - because it has seen more sunshine during its growth.
Fact file
- Mutations also occurs in other fruits and flowers. Last year a woman peeled back a banana skin and discovered the fruit was bright red inside.
- If the genetic mutation took place within the apple, it is likely to be a one-off occurrence. However, if the mutation occurred in the tree, there could be similar coloured apples next year.
- Even though it is half red, half green, the apple is still called as a Golden Delicious. Red Delicious apples are a different species and have not been interbred with the Golden Delicious species.
- Mutations can sometimes be triggered by cold weather, temperature fluctuations or insect damage.
'The red and green split through the stem is totally perfect - as if I've painted it. It's a genuine one-off and none of us have ever seen an apple like it before.'
Mr Morrish, a grandfather-of-two who has grown apples for 45 years, took the fruit to horticultural experts at a nearby college for closer examination.
'They took pictures of it and said they had never come across anything like it either,' he added. 'It's caused a real stir in the village. People have been coming round to see it and take photos of it.
'I'm sure a few hundred years ago it would have been seen as a supernatural sign or something. I don't know if it's worth a lot of money but I won't be letting it out of my sight.'
John Breach, chairman of the British Independent Fruit Growers Association, said: 'I've never seen this happen before to a Golden Delicious. It is extremely rare. It is an extreme mutation.
'There has been the occasional case of this type reported. If there was a whole branch of apples with the same colouring then fruit experts would get even more excited.'
Jim Arbury, fruit superintendent at RHS Garden Wisley in Surrey, said it was probably the 'result of a random genetic mutation'.
'This is known as a chimera where one of the first two cells has developed differently giving rise to one half of the apple being different,' he said.
'It is unlikely to be a stable mutation but it is worth checking next year to see if it recurs. There are instances of some striped apples and pears where the mutation remains stable including one striped pear in the collection at Wisley called Pysanka.'
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