Unusual looking apples on limb mutation

[Native Hunter]

I noticed these apples yesterday on one limb of a tree that has regular looking apples which ripen in July. Sometime after the normal apples fell, I saw some flowers on this one limb but didn't think anything about it. Then yesterday I noticed that the flowers had actually made these apples. They look very green, and I doubt that they could possibly ripen before frost. Just wondering if anyone else has ever seen anything like this.

 

[KSQ2]

Not me, but I'm quite new to the apple, pear, crabapple game. We picked our first apples off the trees we planted in 2016, after buying our house. Dawna might make an apple pie with them!

 

[Native Hunter]

Not me, but I'm quite new to the apple, pear, crabapple game. We picked our first apples off the trees we planted in 2016, after buying our house. Dawna might make an apple pie with them!

Mutations of apples that cause small changes like a deeper color or slightly different ripening time are somewhat common. They are called "Sports." Red Delicious has dozens of "Sports" that have come from it, and many have been patented. Mutations like the one shown above are much less common. I will be watching this one to see what it does in years to come. If it happened to produce a new apple with desirable traits, it could then be propagated through grafting.... Then again, next year the limb could go back to normal. It can happen either way.