''Malus sylvestris'', the European crab apple, is a
species
In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...
of the
genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...
''
Malus
''Malus'' ( or ) is a genus of about 30–55 species of small deciduous trees or shrubs in the family Rosaceae, including the domesticated orchard apple, crab apples, wild apples, and rainberries.
The genus is native to the temperate zone of th ...
'',
native
Native may refer to:
People
* Jus soli, citizenship by right of birth
* Indigenous peoples, peoples with a set of specific rights based on their historical ties to a particular territory
** Native Americans (disambiguation)
In arts and entert ...
to Europe. Its
scientific name
In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...
means "forest apple" and the truly wild tree has
thorns
Thorn(s) or The Thorn(s) may refer to:
Botany
* Thorns, spines, and prickles, sharp structures on plants
* ''Crataegus monogyna'', or common hawthorn, a plant species
Comics and literature
* Rose and Thorn, the two personalities of two DC Com ...
.
Description
Wild apple has an expanded crown and often appears more like a bush than a tree. It can live 80–100 years and grow up to tall with trunk diameters of . Due to its weak competitiveness and high light requirement, wild apple is found mostly at the wet edge of forests, in farmland hedges or on very extreme, marginal sites.
The flowers are
hermaphrodite
In reproductive biology, a hermaphrodite () is an organism that has both kinds of reproductive organs and can produce both gametes associated with male and female sexes.
Many Taxonomy (biology), taxonomic groups of animals (mostly invertebrate ...
and are pollinated by insects.
Progenitor of cultivated apples
In the past ''M. sylvestris'' was thought to be the most important ancestor of the cultivated
apple
An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple fruit tree, trees are agriculture, cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, wh ...
(''M. domestica''), which has since been shown to have been primarily derived from the central Asian species ''
M. sieversii''. However another recent
DNA analysis[Coart, E., Van Glabeke, S., De Loose, M., Larsen, A.S., Roldán-Ruiz, I. 2006. Chloroplast diversity in the genus ''Malus'': new insights into the relationship between the European wild apple (''Malus sylvestris'' (L.) Mill.) and the domesticated apple (''Malus domestica'' Borkh.). ''Mol. Ecol.'' 15 (8): 2171-82.] confirms that ''M. sylvestris'' has contributed significantly to the genome.
The study found that secondary
introgression
Introgression, also known as introgressive hybridization, in genetics is the transfer of genetic material from one species into the gene pool of another by the repeated backcrossing of an interspecific hybrid with one of its parent species. Intr ...
from other species of the genus ''Malus'' has greatly shaped the genome of ''M. domestica'', with ''M. sylvestris'' being the largest secondary contributor. It also found that current populations of ''M. domestica'' are more closely related to ''M. sylvestris'' than to ''M. sieversii''. However, in more pure strains of ''M. domestica'', the ''M. sieversii'' ancestry still predominates.
Distribution and habitat
The species originates from
Central Asia
Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...
, in the area currently known as
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...
. The tree is currently rather rare but native to most
European countries
The list below includes all entities falling even partially under any of the various common definitions of Europe, geographical or political. Fifty generally recognised sovereign states, Kosovo with limited, but substantial, international reco ...
. It occurs in a scattered distribution pattern as single individuals or in small groups.
Ecology
Its leaves are food of the
caterpillar
Caterpillars ( ) are the larval stage of members of the order Lepidoptera (the insect order comprising butterflies and moths).
As with most common names, the application of the word is arbitrary, since the larvae of sawflies (suborder Sym ...
s of the
twin-spotted sphinx
''Smerinthus jamaicensis'', the twin-spotted sphinx, is a moth of the family Sphingidae. The species was Species description, first described by Dru Drury in 1773.
Distribution
It is widely distributed across North America. It has been taken ...
(''Smerinthus jamaicensis'') and possibly the
hawthorn moth (''Scythropia crataegella'').
Gallery
See also
*
List of Lepidoptera that feed on ''Malus''
References
Further reading
*M.H.A. Hoffman, List of names of woody plants, Applied Plant Research, Boskoop 2005.
*RHS dictionary of gardening, 1992
External links
USDA Plants Profile for ''Malus sylvestris''Jepson Manual (JM93) treatment of ''Malus sylvestris''— ''introduced species in California''.
*
EUFORGEN species page: ''Malus sylvestris'' Information, distribution and related resources.
{{Authority control
sylvestris
Crabapples
Flora of Europe
Flora of Spain
Flora of Ukraine
Taxa named by Philip Miller