The Maleae (incorrectly Pyreae) are the apple tribe in the rose family, Rosaceae. The group includes a number of plants bearing commercially important

fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particu ...

s, such as

apple An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple trees are cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, where its wild ancestor, ' ...

s and

pear Pears are fruits produced and consumed around the world, growing on a tree and harvested in the Northern Hemisphere in late summer into October. The pear tree and shrub are a species of genus ''Pyrus'' , in the family Rosaceae, bearing the po ...

s, while others are cultivated as ornamentals. Older taxonomies separated some of this group as tribe Crataegeae,G. K. Schulze-Menz 1964. ''Reihe Rosales''. in ''A. Engler's Syllabus der Pflanzenfamilien mit besonderer Berücksichtigung der Nutzpflanzen nebst einer Übersicht über die Florenreiche und Florengebiete der Erde'', Gebrüder Borntraeger, Berlin as the Cydonia group (a tentative placement), or some genera were placed in family Quillajaceae. The tribe consists exclusively of shrubs and small

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are ...

s. Most have pomes, a type of

accessory fruit An accessory fruit is a fruit in which some of the flesh is derived not from the floral ovary but from some adjacent tissue exterior to the carpel.Esau, K. 1977. ''Anatomy of seed plants''. John Wiley and Sons, New York. Accessory fruits are u ...

that does not occur in other Rosaceae. All except '' Vauquelinia'' (with 15 chromosomes) have a basal haploid

chromosome A chromosome is a long DNA molecule with part or all of the genetic material of an organism. In most chromosomes the very long thin DNA fibers are coated with packaging proteins; in eukaryotic cells the most important of these proteins are ...

count of 17, instead of 7, 8, or 9 as in the other Rosaceae. There are approximately 28 genera that contain about 1100 species worldwide, with most species occurring in the temperate Northern Hemisphere.

Nomenclature

The name Maleae is required by the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants (article 19), for any group at the tribal level that includes the genus ''Malus'', but not either of the genera ''Rosa'' or ''Amygdalus''.

Current classification

Core members of the group

A traditional circumscription of Maleae includes the following genera: *'' Amelanchier'' - serviceberry, juneberry, saskatoon, sugarplum *''Aria'' (see ''

Sorbus ''Sorbus'' is a genus of over 100 species of trees and shrubs in the rose family, Rosaceae. Species of ''Sorbus'' (''s.l.'') are commonly known as whitebeam, rowan ( mountain-ash) and service tree. The exact number of species is disputed depe ...

'') *''

Aronia ''Aronia'' is a genus of deciduous shrubs, the chokeberries, in the family Rosaceae native to eastern North America and most commonly found in wet woods and swamps. The genus Aronia is considered to have 3 species. The most common and wi ...

'' - chokeberry *'' Chaenomeles'' - Japanese quince *'' Chamaemeles'' *''Chamaemespilus'' (see ''

Sorbus chamaemespilus ''Sorbus chamaemespilus'', the false medlar or dwarf whitebeam, is a species of ''Sorbus'' native to the mountains of central and southern Europe, from the Pyrenees east through the Alps to the Carpathians and the Balkans, growing at altitudes of ...

'') *''Cormus'' (see ''

'') *'' Cydonia'' - quince *''

Dichotomanthes ''Dichotomanthes'' is a monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In ...

'' *''

Docynia ''Docynia'' (栘𣐿属, ''yí yī shǔ'') is a genus of flowering trees, evergreen or semi-evergreen, in the family Rosaceae. The fruit is a pome. The tree is endemic to Southeast Asia, including Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: ...

'' *'' Docyniopsis'' *''

Eriobotrya ''Eriobotrya'' is a genus of flowering plants, mostly large evergreen shrubs and small trees in the family Rosaceae, native to woodland in the Himalayas and East Asia. The loquat, ''E. japonica'', is grown for its edible fruit. ''Eriobotrya'' s ...

'' -loquat *''

Eriolobus ''Eriolobus'' is a genus of plants in the family Rosaceae Rosaceae (), the rose family, is a medium-sized family of flowering plants that includes 4,828 known species in 91 genera. The name is derived from the type genus ''Rosa''. Among ...

'' *''

Hesperomeles ''Hesperomeles'' is a genus of South American evergreen trees of the family Rosaceae that has sometimes been included along with ''Pyracantha'' in the genus '' Osteomeles''. However, ''Osteomeles'' notably have compound leaves, and recent molecu ...

'' *''

Heteromeles ''Heteromeles arbutifolia'' (; more commonly by Californian botanists), commonly known as toyon, is a common perennial shrub native to extreme southwest Oregon, California, and the Baja California Peninsula. It is the sole species in the genus ...

'' - toyon *''

Malacomeles ''Malacomeles'', or false serviceberry, is a genus of flowering plants in the Rosaceae. It is most closely related to '' Amelanchier'', '' Peraphyllum'', '' Crataegus'', and ''Mespilus ''Mespilus'', commonly called medlar, is a monotypic g ...

'' - false serviceberry *''

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 ...

'' - apple, crabapple *'' Osteomeles'' *''

Peraphyllum ''Peraphyllum'' is a monotypic genus of flowering plants in the rose family, containing the single species ''Peraphyllum ramosissimum'', commonly known as the squaw apple or wild crab apple. Translated from the Greek, the genus ''Peraphyllum'' ...

'' - wild crab apple, squaw apple *'' Photinia'' *''

Pseudocydonia ''Pseudocydonia sinensis'' or Chinese quince () is a deciduous or semi-evergreen tree in the family Rosaceae, native to southern and eastern China. It is the sole species in the genus ''Pseudocydonia''. Its hard, astringent fruit is used in tra ...

'' - Chinese quince *'' Pyrus'' - pear *''

Rhaphiolepis ''Rhaphiolepis'' ( or ;The first pronunciation is that expected for Anglo-Latin; the second is common in nurseries. ''Sunset Western Garden Book,'' 1995:606–607. However, William T. Stearn in his book ''Botanical Latin'' says "Botanical Latin ...

'' - hawthorn *''

'' - rowan,

whitebeam The whitebeams are members of the family Rosaceae, comprising subgenus ''Aria'' (or, according to some authorities, its own genus) of genus ''Sorbus'', and hybrids involving species of this subgenus and members of subgenera ''Sorbus'', ''Torminar ...

service tree Service tree can refer to: * Species of ''Sorbus'', particularly: ** '' Sorbus domestica'' ** '' Sorbus latifolia'', service tree of Fontainebleau ** ''Sorbus torminalis'', wild service tree ** '' Sorbus pseudofennica'', Arran service tree See als ...

*''

Stranvaesia ''Stranvaesia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Rosaceae. Its morphology is so similar to ''Photinia'' that it has sometimes been included within that genus, but recent molecular A molecule is a group of two or more atoms he ...

'' *''Torminalis'' (see ''

Sorbus torminalis ''Sorbus torminalis'', with common names wild service tree, chequers, and checker tree, is a species of tree in the mountain ash or rowan genus (''Sorbus'') of the rose family (Rosaceae), that is native to Europe, parts of northern Africa and we ...

'') intergeneric hybrids: Stace, C. A. 1975. ''Hybridization and the flora of the British Isles''. Academic Press, London. *'' × Amelasorbus'' *'' × Malosorbus'' *''

× Sorbaronia × ''Sorbaronia'' is a hybrid genus of flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('contai ...

'' *'' × Sorbopyrus'' and graft hybrids:
'' + Pyrocydonia'' (''Pirocydonia'')

Tribe Crataegeae

A recent taxonomic treatment includes the following genera in Maleae that were earlier separated as tribe Crataegeae (or as intertribe hybrids):Potter, D.; Eriksson, T.; Evans, R.C.; Oh, S.H.; Smedmark, J.E.E.; Morgan, D.R.; Kerr, M.; Robertson, K.R.; Arsenault, M.P.; Dickinson, T.A.; Campbell, C.S. (2007). Phylogeny and classification of Rosaceae. ''Plant Systematics and Evolution''. 266(1–2): 5–43. *''

Cotoneaster ''Cotoneaster'' is a genus of flowering plants in the rose family, Rosaceae, native to the Palaearctic region (temperate Asia, Europe, north Africa), with a strong concentration of diversity in the genus in the mountains of southwestern China an ...

'' - cotoneaster *'' Crataegus'' - hawthorn *''

Mespilus ''Mespilus'', commonly called medlar, is a monotypic genus of flowering plants in the family Rosaceae containing the single species ''Mespilus germanica'' of southwest Asia. It is also found in some countries in the Balkans, especially in Alb ...

'' - medlar *''

Pyracantha ''Pyracantha'' (from Greek "fire" and "thorn", hence firethorn) is a genus of large, thorny evergreen shrubs in the family Rosaceae, with common names firethorn or pyracantha. They are native to an area extending from Southwest Europe east to ...

'' - firethorn intergeneric (including intertribal) hybrids: *''

× Crataemespilus × ''Crataemespilus'' (or ''Cratae-mespilus'') is the generic name applied to hybrids between the genera '' Crataegus'' and ''Mespilus ''Mespilus'', commonly called medlar, is a monotypic genus of flowering plants in the family Rosaceae c ...

'' *'' × Crataegosorbus'' *'' × Sorbocotoneaster'' and the graft hybrid: *'' + Crataegomespilus''

Former members of family Quillajaceae

The following genera were previously placed in tribe Quillajeae in Rosaceae, or in family Quillajaceae. Their fruit are dry capsules, not pomes. * '' Kageneckia'' * '' Vauquelinia'' * '' Lindleya''

The ''Cydonia'' group

The ''Cydonia'' group within the Maloid Rosaceae was a tentative grouping of pome-fruited genera with many ovules (rather than just two) per carpel. The genera involved were: * '' Cydonia'' * '' Chaenomeles'' * ''

'' * ''

'' It is not yet clear whether this group is monophyletic within the Maleae. Molecular data indicate a close relationship between ''Cydonia'' and ''Pseudocydonia''. Multiple ovules per carpel also occur in ''Kageneckia'', a non-pome-bearing genus. Chloroplast DNA analysis, but not nuclear DNA, shows a tight relationship between ''Cydonia'' and ''Dichotomanthes'', a non-pome-bearing genus.

References

External links

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2119847 Rosales tribes