Images: ©Jouko Lehmuskallio
Crab Apple
Malus sylvestris
- Family: Rose Family -Rosaceae
- Height: 3–8 m (ca. 10–25 ft.)
- Flower: Regular (actinomorphic), large, fragrant. Calyx-lobes five, narrow-triangular, sharp-pointed, hairy in the inner surface. Petals five, inside white, outside pink, with rounded tip. Carpels three to five, fused. Inflorescence an umbel-like cluster of two to six flowers.
- Leaves: Borne on thorn-tipped short shoots. Long-stalked, hairless or sometimes hairy when young, blade 3–8 cm (1.2–3.1 in.), ovate with a tapering tip, toothed.
- Fruit: A small (1–2 cm, 0.4–0.8 in.), sour, green pome. Dark brown and glossy, oval, flattened seeds within a capsule surrounded by the enlarged, fleshy receptacle.
- Habitat: Dry or dryish, rocky broadleaf woods especially on slopes. Waterside thickets, coppices. Often on calcareous soils.
- Flowering time: May–June.
The apples (Malus spp.) are a genus of appr. 25 species most of which native to the temperate regions of North America, Asia, and Europe. They are typically cross-pollinated, many cultivars being self-sterile.
The crab apple is a 4–6 m (13–20 ft.) tall, dense-crowned, thornytree or shrub. It is rare in Finland except in the Åland Islands, and it is difficult to tell apart from an escaped cultivated apple (Malus x domestica). The annual shoots, buds, and leaves of the crab apple are hairless, contrary to the cultivated apple. In addition, the flowers of the former are smaller, the petals narrower, and the petiole notably long compared to the lamina.
