The apple detectives hunting for lost varieties

In the family tree of British apples, there have long been some prominent holes. It's the equivalent of a great-grandfather whose name has been forgotten. He's there in all the old photographs, staring out at you. But who is he? The DNA of some apple varieties, for instance, shows that they are descended from a lost tree, one that must have existed, but whose identity is unknown. Scientists called this 'ghost apple', a parent of varieties like Unknown Founder 8. Apple fanatics across the UK are now taking samples from very old apple trees in hopes of learning more about antique varieties, and perhaps making some surprising discoveries. Most apples are grafts, or clones, of trees that grew long ago, so these old trees may be varieties you can't buy anymore, as traditional favorites have lost out to modern industrial crops. For anyone interested, in the spring, you can pick a few bright green new leaves from an ancient tree in your back garden, and send them off to a laboratory. If someone's sent in a sample before that's been confidently identified as a particular variety, you'll get a match.