apple

apple, also called common apple or just apple, is a small deciduous tree that reaches up to 50′ in height at maturity.

The trunk is twisted. When grown in the open, the trunk divides near the ground into several major branches, and the crown is often as wide or wider than tall. When grown among other trees the trunk is taller and the crown is less spreading.

Older branches on mature trees develop numerous prominent spur branches.

The bark on young trees is smooth. On mature trees the bark is rough and thin, with a reddish inner bark and a gray, scaly outer bark.

The twigs are moderately stout, brown to gray, and hairy when young. There are no thorns. The pith is solid and star-shaped in cross section. The leaf scars are narrow, slightly curved, and level with the twig or only moderately raised. They have 3 bundle scars. The buds are egg-shaped and are densely covered with whitish, woolly hairs.

The leaves are deciduous, alternate, elliptical to egg-shaped, and 1½″ to 4″ long. They are entire, not lobed. They are rounded at the base and bluntly pointed at the tip. They are on leaf stalks that are densely covered with whitish hairs. The upper surface of the leaf blade is dark green and hairless. The lower surface is densely covered with whitish hairs. The margins are finely toothed.

The flowers are large, up to 1¼″ wide. They appear after the leaves unfold in the spring. They are borne in umbrella-like clusters (umbels) on short, spur branches. There are 5 green sepals, 5 white petals tinged with pink, and 15 to 50 stamens with yellow anthers. The stamens are shorter than the petals.

The fruit is a fleshy, globe-shaped to somewhat egg-shaped pome, 2⅜″ to 4⅓″ in diameter. Fruit of naturalized trees is smaller than fruit of those grown in cultivation because the latter are propagated by grafting. Naturalized trees produce fruit more than 1½″ in diameter. The fruit is green at first, turning yellow to red when it ripens in the mid- to late summer. The seed-bearing core or the pome is divided into 3 to 5 chambers. Each chamber normally contains 2 seeds.

Up to 50′

No records are kept for non-native species.

White tinged with pink

The flowers are pink in bud but usually white when expanded, sometimes pink.

Prairie crabapple (Malus ioensis) flowers are pink but sometimes fade to white.

Roadsides, railroads, shores, fields, old homesteads, wooded areas.

Late April to early May

Sources

2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 22, 29, 30.

The counties in light green reflect citizen science sightings posted on iNaturalist. Some if not most of those are trees in people’s yards, which are not “outside of cultivation.”

Native to eastern Europe. Introduced in colonial times. Widely cultivated. Occasionally escaped.

Uncommon

Most occurrences of this tree outside of cultivation are probably the result of discarded apple cores by humans.

Until recently, this species was known by the common name “paradise apple” and the scientific name Malus pumila. There has been an increasing use of the name Malus domestica in the 21st century. While the new species epithet seems relevant, it is taxonomically invalid. Nevertheless, in 2017, the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants adopted Malus Domestica as a conserved name, making its use legitimate.

Paradise apple is just one of several apples subsumed within Malus Domestica. All are now known by the scientific name Malus Domestica and the common name “orchard apple”, “domestic apple”, or simply “apple”.

GBIF lists 250 synonyms of this species, far too many to include here.

Plant

Leaves

Inflorescence

Malus domestica
Susanne Wiik

Wild Apples
Andree Reno Sanborn

Malus domestica Apple Trees
gardenvilletv

MALUS DOMESTICA
vladiraz

Charles Schaffer
5/6/2024

Location: Bruce Vento Wildlife Trail,  Saint Paul Mn 55107, growing along the Mississippi bluff, near the Pickerel Lake trail overlook that descends to Lilydale Regional Park

wow! the largest flowers I have seen and nicely fragrant.

Location: New Hamburg Ontario Canada

It has been growing beside my fence since I moved into my house eight years ago, never knew what it was until today.