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Portrait of Crab apple

Nature · Trees

Crab apple

Native · deciduous, to 10 m · blossom spring · hedges, scrub and wood edges

Malus sylvestris — Rosaceae

The native crab apple is a small, gnarled, sometimes thorny tree of hedgerows, scrub and wood margins, with pink-and-white blossom in spring and hard yellow-green fruit in autumn. It is one of the ancestors of the cultivated apple, and its fruit gives crab apple jelly. Many wild-looking trees are actually escaped or seedling garden apples.

How to know it

Whole tree of Crab apple
Whole tree Per Arvid Åsen · CC BY-SA 3.0
Leaf of Crab apple
Leaf Roberta F. · CC BY-SA 3.0
Bark of Crab apple
Bark Ian Alexander · CC BY-SA 4.0

How to spot them

  • ▸Gnarled, twisted, greyish-brown flecked bark; twigs often spiny
  • ▸Glossy, oval leaves to 6 cm with rounded teeth
  • ▸Sweetly scented white to pink blossom pollinated by bees
  • ▸Small yellow-green apples 2–3 cm across, sometimes flushed red
  • ▸Bud scale edges with a short row of hairs

How to know it

A twisted, spiny-twigged hedgerow tree whose "crabbed" appearance may have given rise to its name

Crab apple.

Small hard sour yellow-green fruit 2–3 cm across, used for jelly and as a natural source of pectin

Crab apple.

One of the few trees that can host mistletoe, often furred with lichens

Crab apple.

Throw its pips on the fire while naming your love: if they pop, the love is true

Crab apple — folklore recorded by the Woodland Trust.

Planted in commercial orchards because its long flowering period pollinates cultivated apples

Crab apple.

The native ancestor which contributed to the genes of the domesticated apple; the eyed hawk-moth caterpillar feeds on it

Crab apple (Malus sylvestris).

Quick-fire facts

  • •Malus sylvestris: sylvestris means of the woods
  • •The domesticated apple originated in Central Asia from Malus sieversii, but native crab apple also contributed to its genetic makeup (Woodland Trust)
  • •Many crab apples in the wild are self-seeded garden apples that have reverted or hybridised; the closer to the parent, the larger and sweeter the fruit
  • •Trees reach about 10 m and live up to 100 years
  • •It is one of the few host trees of the parasite mistletoe
  • •Blossom ranges from pure white to deep pink
  • •Caterpillars of eyed hawk-moth, green pug and Chinese character moths feed on it; blackbirds, thrushes, foxes and badgers eat the fruit
  • •Shakespeare mentions crab apples in A Midsummer Night's Dream and Love's Labour's Lost

Drill it — 7 cards

1 / 7new card

Sources