Crab Apple
Scientific name: Malus sylvestris (L.) Mill.
Diagnostic features
Tree to 10m, often spiny.
Twigs glabrous.
Leaves 3-5cm, ovate to elliptic, glabrous when mature.
Petiole 1.5-3cm.
Pedicels and outside of calyx glabrous.
Petals pinkish-white.
Fruit apple-shaped, yellowish-green, c.2-3cm.
Chromosome number: (2n=34).
Habitat
Native; woods, hedges and scrub.
Distribution
Probably throughout British Isles North to Shetland but very rare in North Scotland.
This species is keyed out on Page 2475 in the Text Key.
Note
Much over-recorded for Malus domestica and often very difficult to separate from it; intermediates are frequent and may be hybrids. The two are perhaps not specifically distinct. |
