1. Introducing the fruitID project

There is great interest in getting apple varieties identified, both from the public and from those involved in heritage fruit and traditional orchard habitat conservation. However, skilled identifiers are few and reference material difficult to obtain.

In 2009,apple identifiers in the East of England began a projectto share expertise on a website called fruitID.comwith high quality zoomable images,text providing heritage and cultivation notes andsearchable characteristics. This is now live and we face the huge task of building the contentin what will be a ten-year journey.

This is a community effort with expertise given and published free. Identifiers from several conservation groups have joined in and our membership is spreading.

  1. How do we search?

We can look up a variety by name and searching takes place on synonyms since some apples have many names. In thehome pagethumbnail on the right, we typed “Laxton’s Early Crimson” in the quick search box. This generates theVariety Page (below)where we have zoomable images and a detailed description.

To identify unfamiliar varieties

We use characteristics of apples as search criteria. We can use several criteria in combination, but the idea is to use as few as possible to give a manageable results set.

Here we are searching for red apples and wegenerate a palette view of the results.

We can click through from any thumbnail in the palette to the individual VarietyPage.

We then research this variety using the images and text, deselecting non-matching varieties from our results set until a match with the unknown sample can be proposed.



We can zoom into the images to see fine detail as shown below.

We can check out the characteristics from the text and images until a conclusion is reached. Not every search will yield a definitive result. Identification remains a difficult and uncertain process requiring expertise and experience, but already the accuracy of identification is being improved by the use of the reference material in fruitID.

  1. How is the content created?

Firstly the fruitID team designed the search methods and characteristics and have loaded this framework into the system. Contributors are invited to research and describe one or more varieties from over 680 names in the system so far and then administrators allocate user permissions accordingly.

The photography and codification are largely based on samples from trees growing in the National Fruit Collection. Each variety is accorded 20-40 images and we have over 17,700 images loaded on the system so far. From the samples and the images, we code the characteristics of each variety and so far we have coded over 56,000 properties on the system. We also load the descriptive text as it is submitted by the editors. Each variety is checked by moderators as it becomes available and is then individually published. Each variety is open to the community for critique. Lastly we will road test a new sample of each variety to see if it is searchable and the properties validated again.

Whilst we have so far considered just apples, the system can hold multiple fruit types, each with its own search characters and format.

  1. Who is involved and can anyone join?

Although the public can use the website and there is guidance on botanical terms and interpretation, it is really designed fortechnical usage. We have over 20 editors and 180associates and have a panel of moderators and experts to guide us. There is a forum for members to provide feedback on varieties.Any comments on the system / methods or the apple varieties would be most welcome.

You need a computer capable of running Microsoft software and a good broadband connection and a decent monitor. (We are planning an HTML5 viewer for iPad etc.)

  • The site is at Just Google “fruitID”.
  • The sitemay request that Microsoft Silverlight be installed, OK this.
  • Initiallyyou will greeted as a Guest,butonly the published varieties can be viewed.
  • To see everything, click Sign up! and follow the instructions on the screen.
  • Project Administrators will consider granting you Associate permissions and will email guidance on how the system can be used.

If there is a variety you know well or wish to research, and you would like
to become a contributor, please contact:

Peter Laws at or Bob Lever at