Collier

Short and stubby fruit with solid pale green skin. Moderate ribbing. Very dense brown spines. No bumps. Fruit become brownish-orange at seed maturity. Market mature fruit average 3.7" long, 2" wide, and 4.8oz. Seed mature fruit average 4.6" long, 2.8" wide. Best eaten before skin begins to yellow. Very good flavor and texture. Crunchy and juicy, with a well rounded, floral flavor. Very thin, edible skin. No bitterness. Mid-season maturing. This cucumber variety was grown and stewarded by Graham and Margaret Collier of Nashville, Tennessee for over 50 years. Margaret's parents, Arthur & Laura Mayne, first received seeds circa 1910 near Huntington, Indiana from a group of migrant people traveling through the area. Graham and Margaret began growing it in the late 1930s after they married and moved to Nashville. The variety was nearly lost at one point in the 1950s during a drought year when no cucumber seeds germinated in the garden and none had been kept back in reserve. Luckily, a volunteer plant appeared in the garden the following year. Graham fenced/caged the plant to keep the birds away and was able to build up the seed supply again from that one plant. Graham and Margaret Collier decided to share seeds with SSE in 1989. SSE Accession # 109224