After eight years of careful cultivation, the apple tree coming from science master Issac Newton’s hometown is flowering outdoors for the first time in Shanghai.

The special apple tree at Shanghai Chenshan Botanical Garden began flowering last week. The tree is expected to produce at least three apples this autumn, said Zhang Zhe, a staffer with the garden’s cooperation and exchange department. After the tree yields fruit, the garden plans to hold an afternoon tea event so locals can come to taste the apples, Zhang added.

The original tree, located at Woolsthorpe Manor in the UK’s Lincolnshire, is probably the world’s most famous apple tree as it inspired Newton to discover the law of gravity. To allow more people in China, particularly young people, learn the scientific spirit of daring to think and explore from Newton’s apple tree, five branches of the original tree were brought to China by the Shanghai Science and Technology Association in March 2015 with the help of the UK’s National Trust and the British consulate in Shanghai. 

Once they arrived in Shanghai, the branches were soon grafted(嫁接) onto potted apple trees that evening. The grafted apple trees have grown well in the garden’s greenhouse, with some flowering and fruiting the very next year in 2016. The garden transplanted(移栽) the strongest grafted apple tree from the greenhouse to an outdoor area in September 2022. Local horticulturists(园艺师) have made detailed plans to help the precious tree, which prefers a cool climate, to get over the challenges posed by Shanghai’s upcoming high temperatures and humidity.

“Trees belong to nature. By transplanting Newton’s apple tree from the greenhouse to the natural environment, we can better spread the scientific spirit of Newton,” noted the garden directors. “We hope these apple trees in Shanghai can inspire future ‘Chinese Newtons’.”

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