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Magnoliopsida
Malus P. Mill.
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Malus (/ˈmeɪləs/[3] or /ˈmæləs/), apple, is a genus of about 30–55 species[4] of small deciduous trees or shrubs in the family Rosaceae, including the domesticated orchard apple (M. domestica). The other species are generally known as crabapples, crab apples, crabs, or wild apples.
The genus is native to the temperate zone of the Northern Hemisphere.
Description[edit]
Apple trees are typically 4–12 m (13–39 ft) tall at maturity, with a dense, twiggy crown. The leaves are 3–10 cm (1.2–3.9 in) long, alternate, simple, with a serrated margin. The flowers are borne in corymbs, and have five petals, which may be white, pink or red, and are perfect, with usually red stamens that produce copious pollen, and a half-inferior ovary; flowering occurs in the spring after 50–80 growing degree days (varying greatly according to subspecies and cultivar).
Apples require cross-pollination between individuals by insects (typically bees, which freely visit the flowers for both nectar and pollen); all are self-sterile, and (with the exception of a few specially developed cultivars) self-pollination is impossible, making pollinating insects essential. Several Malus species, including domestic apples, hybridize freely.[6] They are used as food plants by the larvae of a large number of Lepidoptera species; see list of Lepidoptera that feed on Malus.
The fruit is a globose pome, varying in size from 1–4 cm (0.39–1.57 in) diameter in most of the wild species, to 6 cm (2.4 in) in M. sylvestris sieversii, 8 cm (3.1 in) in M. domestica, and even larger in certain cultivated orchard apples. The centre of the fruit contains five carpels arranged star-like, each containing one or two seeds.
Cultivation[edit]
For the Malus domestica cultivars, the cultivated apples, see Apple.
Crabapples are popular as compact ornamental trees, providing blossom in Spring and colourful fruit in Autumn. The fruits often persist throughout Winter. Numerous hybrid cultivars have been selected, of which 'Evereste'[7] and 'Red Sentinel'[8] have gained The Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.
Other varieties are dealt with under their species names.
Some crabapples are used as rootstocks for domestic apples to add beneficial characteristics.[9] For example, varieties of Baccata, also called Siberian crab, rootstock is used to give additional cold hardiness to the combined plant for orchards in cold northern areas.[10]
They are also used as pollinizers in apple orchards. Varieties of crabapple are selected to bloom contemporaneously with the apple variety in an orchard planting, and the crabs are planted every sixth or seventh tree, or limbs of a crab tree are grafted onto some of the apple trees. In emergencies, a bucket or drum bouquet of crabapple flowering branches are placed near the beehives as orchard pollenizers. See also Fruit tree pollination. Because of the plentiful blossoms and small fruit, crabapples are popular for use in bonsai culture.
Crabapples are small and sour tasting, and visually resemble a small apple found for sale in some supermarkets (such as H Mart) known as the "Lady Apple" AKA Pomme d'Api, Lady's Finger, Wax Apple and Christmas Apple.
Uses[edit]
Crabapple fruit is not an important crop in most areas, being extremely sour and (in some species) woody, and is rarely eaten raw for this reason. In some southeast Asian cultures they are valued as a sour condiment, sometimes eaten with salt and chilli pepper, or shrimp paste.
Some crabapples varieties are an exception to the reputation of being sour, and can be very sweet, such as the 'Chestnut' cultivar.[11]
Crabapples are an excellent source of pectin, and their juice can be made into a ruby-coloured preserve with a full, spicy flavour.[12] A small percentage of crabapples in cider makes a more interesting flavour.[13] As Old English Wergulu, the crab apple is one of the nine plants invoked in the pagan Anglo-Saxon Nine Herbs Charm, recorded in the 10th century.
Apple wood gives off a pleasant scent when burned, and smoke from an apple wood fire gives an excellent flavour to smoked foods.[14] It is easier to cut when green; dry apple wood is exceedingly difficult to carve by hand.[14] It is a good wood for cooking fires because it burns hot and slow, without producing much flame.[14]
Crabapple has been listed as one of the 38 plants that are used to prepare Bach flower remedies,[15] a kind of alternative medicine promoted for its effect on health. However according to Cancer Research UK, "there is no scientific evidence to prove that flower remedies can control, cure or prevent any type of disease, including cancer".[16]
Species[edit]
- Malus angustifolia—Southern crabapple
- Malus asiatica—Chinese pearleaf crabapple
- Malus baccata—Siberian crabapple
- Malus bracteata
- Malus brevipes
- Malus coronaria—Sweet crabapple
- Malus domestica—Orchard apple
- Malus florentina
- Malus floribunda—Japanese crabapple
- Malus formosana
- Malus fusca—Oregon or Pacific crabapple
- Malus glabrata
- Malus glaucescens
- Malus halliana
- Malus honanensis
- Malus hopa—Flowering crabapple
- Malus hupehensis—Tea crabapple
- Malus ioensis—Prairie crabapple
- Malus kansuensis
- Malus lancifolia
- Malus × micromalus—Midget crabapple
- Malus prattii
- Malus prunifolia
- Malus pumila—feral M. domestica?
- Malus rockii
- Malus sargentii
- Malus sieboldii
- Malus sieversii—Asian wild or Almaty apple
- Malus sikkimensis
- Malus spectabilis
- Malus sublobata
- Malus sylvestris—European wild apple
- Malus toringoides
- Malus transitoria
- Malus trilobata
- Malus tschonoskii
- Malus yunnanensis
Cultivars[edit]
- Malus × moerlandsii Door. 'profusion' - Profusion crabapple
References[edit]
- ^ Cirrus Digital Purple Prince Crabapple
- ^ Potter, D., et al. (2007). Phylogeny and classification of Rosaceae. Plant Systematics and Evolution. 266(1–2): 5–43. [Referring to the subfamily by the name "Spiraeoideae"]
- ^ Sunset Western Garden Book, 1995:606–607
- ^ Phipps, J.B. et aL. (1990). "A checklist of the subfamily Maloideae (Rosaceae)". Can. J. Bot. 68 (10): 2209. doi:10.1139/b90-288.
- ^ "Macro video of a Malus Evereste apple on a tree in winter". YouTube.
- ^ Ken Wilson and D.C. Elfving. "Crabapple Pollenizers for Apples". Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food. Retrieved 12 Sep 2013.
- ^ "RHS Plant Selector - Malus 'Evereste'". Retrieved 20 July 2013.
- ^ "RHS Plant Selector - Malus 'Red Sentinel'". Retrieved 20 July 2013.
- ^ Apple Tree Rootstocks Ecogardening Factsheet #21, Summer 1999
- ^ Alaska Department of Natural Resources
- ^ "The Growing Guide". Stark Bro's Nurseries & Orchards Co.
- ^ Rombauer, I.; Becker, M. R.; Becker, E. (2002) [2002]. All About Canning & Preserving (The Joy of Cooking series). New York: Scribner. p. 72. ISBN 0-7432-1502-8.
- ^ "The Science of Cidermaking". Andrew Lea. Retrieved November 2013.
- ^ a b c Fraser, Anna (22 August 2005). "Properties of different trees as firewood". Retrieved 17 July 2008.
- ^ D. S. Vohra (1 June 2004). Bach Flower Remedies: A Comprehensive Study. B. Jain Publishers. p. 3. ISBN 978-81-7021-271-3. Retrieved 2 September 2013.
- ^ "Flower remedies". Cancer Research UK. Retrieved September 2013.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Malus. |
- Germplasm Resources Information Network: Malus
- Flora of China: Malus
- Virginia Cooperative Extension - Disease resistant crabapples Archived 8 February 2007 at the Wayback Machine
- The PRI disease resistant apple breeding program: a cooperative among Purdue University, Rutgers University, and the University of Illinois.
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Source | http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Malus&oldid=640569782 |
Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLDS) Stats
Public Records: 0
Specimens with Barcodes: 11
Species With Barcodes: 1
Malus, the apples, are a genus of about 30–35 species (or up to 55, in some classifications) of small deciduous trees or shrubs in the family Rosaceae, including the domesticated apple (M. domestica). The genus is native to the temperate zone of the Northern Hemisphere, in Europe, Asia and North America.
The domesticated apple was derived from M. sieversii, widely known by the synonym M. pumila. It is often referred to as orchard apple or, formerly, table apple. Other species and subspecies are generally known as "wild apples," "crab apples," "crabapples," or "crabs."
Apple trees are typically 4–12 m tall at maturity, with a dense, twiggy crown. The leaves are 3–10 cm long, alternate, simple, with a serrated margin. The flowers are borne in corymbs, and have five petals, which may be white, pink or red, and are perfect, with usually red stamens that produce copious pollen, and a half-inferior ovary; flowering occurs in the spring after 50–80 growing degree days (varying greatly according to subspecies and cultivar). Crabapples are widely grown as ornamental trees for their beautiful flowers or colorful fruit, with numerous cultivars selected for these qualities and for resistance to disease.
The fruit is a globose pome, varying in size from 1–4 cm diameter in most of the wild species, to 6 cm in M. sylvestris sieversii, 8 cm in M. sylvestris domestica, and even larger in certain cultivated orchard apples; among the largest-fruited cultivars (all of which originate in North America) are 'Wolf River' and 'Stark Jumbo.' The center of the fruit contains five carpels arranged star-like, each containing one to two (rarely three) seeds. Fruits from species other than M. domestica are not an important crop in most areas, being extremely sour and (in some species) woody, but they are used as a natural source of pectin for preserves, to flavor cider, and in Asian condiments.
Apples require cross-pollination between individuals by insects (typically bees, which freely visit the flowers for both nectar and pollen); all are self-sterile, and (with the exception of a few specially developed cultivars) self-pollination is impossible, making pollinating insects essential. Malus species, including domestic apples, hybridize freely.
Malus species are used as food plants by the larvae of a large number of Lepidoptera species.
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Source | http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Malus&oldid=468306240 |
Malus × micromalus (also known as Midget Crabapple or Kaido Crabapple), is a species in the genus Malus, in the family Rosaceae.[1]
References[edit]
- ^ "PLANTS Profile for Malus ×micromalus (Kaido crab apple)". USDA. Retrieved 2009-12-27.
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Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLDS) Stats
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Specimens with Barcodes: 5
Species With Barcodes: 1
This small tree is typically 15-50' tall, forming a short crooked trunk about 1-2½' across and a globoid crown with spreading crooked branches. Trunk bark is reddish gray, thin, and irregularly fissured, while branch bark is more gray and smooth. Twigs are reddish brown to brown with scattered white lenticels; they are glabrous or pubescent. Young shoots are light gray-green to purple, terete, and densely pubescent. Alternate leaves about 2-3½" long and 1¼-2¼" across occur along the twigs and young shoots. The leaf blades are lanceolate-ovate to ovate in shape and finely serrated or crenulated along their margins. The upper surface of the leaf blades is yellowish green to dark green and hairless (or nearly so), while the lower surface is pale gray-green or whitish green and more or less downy from short fine hairs. The petioles are ¾-1½" long, whitish green to dull purple, and downy from short fine hairs. Bases of the leaf blades are rounded or slightly cordate, while their tips are blunt to pointed. Relatively large flowers about 1¼-2" across are produced in small clusters from short spur twigs. Individual flowers have 5 rounded petals that are pinkish white to white and contracted at their bases, 5 lanceolate sepals that are pale gray-green and downy from short fine hairs, numerous stamens (about 20) with yellow anthers, and an inferior ovary with 5 styles. The sepals are much smaller than the petals. The slender pedicels are pale gray-green and downy from short fine hairs. The blooming period occurs during late spring for about 2 weeks (after the vernal leaves have unfolded). The flowers are fragrant. Fertile flowers are replaced by small green pomes that develop during the summer. At maturity during late summer or fall, the pomes are 1½-4" across and more or less globoid in shape; each pome has a depression at its top and bottom. The exterior of mature pomes is usually greenish red or red (rarely yellow) and glabrous or nearly so; sometimes short fine hairs occur within the depressions of each pome. The fleshy interior of mature pomes is greenish white to pale yellow, crisp, and somewhat juicy; the flavor can be sour, sweet-sour, or sweet. Within the central portion of each pome, there are up to 10 brown seeds. These small seeds are ovoid and flattened. The deciduous leaves usually turn yellow during the autumn.
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Crabapples (Malus species) include about 25 species of deciduous or rarely half-evergreen trees or shrubs native to the temperate regions of North America, Europe, and Asia. They vary from a large shrub-like plant, 6 to 8 feet, to a medium tree, 15 to 35 feet. The branches are slender and upright. Flowers are showy and vary in color from white to pink to deep red. Blooms appear from mid April to early June depending on location. The apples produced are either red or yellow and vary in size from 1/4 inch diameter up to 3/4 inch.
Malus mandshurica (Maxim.) Kom., Siberian crabapple, is a tall, spreading species, 25 to 35 feet in height, best suited to large, open areas. Profuse, fragrant flowers appear in May. The fruit, which can range in color from red to yellow, ripens from August to November. This species is often used in beach gardens which offer some protection from salt and wind.
Malus coronaria (L.) P. Mill., sweet crab, grows upright to as a shrub 15 to 25 feet tall, with pink flowers which appear in mid-March. The large fruit is used as a main wildlife food.
Malus floribunda Sieb. ex Van Houtte, Japanese flowering crab, reaches a mature height of 20 to 25 feet and blooms heavily in May. The blooms are deep pink, fading to white. The red and yellow fruit stays on the branches into the winter, providing a food source for wildlife.
Malus sargeniti Rehd., Sargent crab, is a bushy, densely branched shrub, usually twice as wide as it is tall. Its white flowers bloom profusely in mid May and are followed by deep red fruit, which remains on the branches until December. In addition to the general uses listed above, Sargent crab can be effectively used as a pruned hedge.
Malus sieboldii (Regel) Rehd., toringa crab, ranges in size from a shrub to a small tree. Its flowers are white and single, and its reddish yellow fruit hangs in clusters from the branches.