Wild crabapple

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Ornamental crabapple fruit

Crabapple trunk

Wild crabapple leaves

Wild crabapple bark

Wild crabapple

Ornamental crabapple fruit

Wild crabapple flowers

Wild crabapple flowers

Wild crabapple

Wild crabapple leaf

Morphology

Trunk

Short, 10-12 inches in diameter; thorny shoots often arise around the main tree; crown dense, rounded; branches spreading, close to ground, initially woolly, becoming glabrous; bark reddish-brown or grayish-brown, splitting into thin, short flakes about 1/3 inch thick.

Twigs

Coarse, rigid, reddish-brown, pale-specked, occasionally ending in spines; leaf scars shallowly crescent-shaped; bundle scars 3.

Leaves

Alternate, simple, deciduous, egg-shaped or oblong, 2.6 to 4 inches long, 1.2 to 2.4 inches wide; upper surface dark green, shiny, nearly glabrous; lower surface paler, yellowish-green, finely pubescent; margins coarsely toothed, sometimes lobed; base broadly tapered or rounded; tip blunt to abrubtly-pointed; stalks stout, .4 to 1.6 inch long, more or less hairy, especially initially.

Flowers

May, when leaves almost fully grown; solitary or in few-flowered clusters; very fragrant; 1-2 inches broad when open; stalk slender, woolly, .4 to 1.4 inch long; calyx urn-shaped, densely woolly; sepals 5, lanceolate, greenish; petals 5, egg-shaped, 1/2 to 3/4 inch long, bright pink or white; margin wavy; tip rounded; stamens many; styles 5, long; stigmas club-shaped, green.

Fruit

September-October; resemble small apples, spherical, .8 to 1.6 inch in diameter, yellowish-green to reddish, sometimes with tiny white dots; stalk stout, .8 to 1 inch long, more or less pubescent; seeds egg-shaped, dark brown, 1/4 to 1/3 inch long, smooth.

Ecology

Habitat

Open woods, stream banks, rocky hillsides, pastures, thickets; rich or rocky soils.

Distribution

East half of Kansas

Practical Information

Uses

Native Americans used the fruits for food. The thickets of thorny shoots provide cover for birds.

Additional Notes

Synonyms

Alternative scientific names that have been used for this plant.