Malus pumila

Native to eastern Europe. Introduced in colonial times. Widely cultivated. Occasionally escaped.

Roadsides, railroads, shores, fields, wooded areas.

Late April to early May

White tinged with pink

Up to 50′

This is a small deciduous tree that reaches up to 50′ in height at maturity.

The trunk is twisted. When grown in the open, the trunk divides near the ground into several major branches, and the crown is often as wide or wider than tall. When grown among other trees the trunk is taller and the crown is less spreading.

Older branches on mature trees develop numerous prominent spur branches.

The bark on young trees is smooth. On mature trees the bark is rough and thin, with a reddish inner bark and a gray, scaly outer bark.

The twigs are moderately stout, brown to gray, and hairy when young. There are no thorns. The pith is solid and star-shaped in cross section. The leaf scars are narrow, slightly curved, and level with the twig or only moderately raised. They have 3 bundle scars. The buds are egg-shaped and are densely covered with whitish, woolly hairs.

The leaves are deciduous, alternate, elliptical to egg-shaped, and 1½″ to 4″ long. They are rounded at the base and bluntly pointed at the tip. They are on leaf stalks that are densely covered with whitish hairs. The upper surface of the leaf blade is dark green and hairless. The lower surface is densely covered with whitish hairs. The margins are finely toothed.

The flowers are large, up to 1¼″ wide. They appear after the leaves unfold in the spring. They are borne in umbrella-like clusters (umbels) on short, spur branches. There are 5 green sepals, 5 white petals tinged with pink, and 15 to 50 stamens with yellow anthers. The stamens are shorter than the petals.

The fruit is a fleshy, globe-shaped to somewhat egg-shaped pome, 2⅜″ to 4⅓″ in diameter. Fruit of naturalized trees is smaller than fruit of those grown in cultivation because the latter are propagated by grafting. Naturalized trees produce fruit more than 1½″ in diameter. The fruit is green at first, turning yellow to red when it ripens in the mid- to late summer. The seed-bearing core or the pome is divided into 3 to 5 chambers. Each chamber normally contains 2 seeds.

When in season, this tree is easily recognized by the large fruit.

No records are kept for non-native species.

Most occurrences of this tree outside of cultivation are probably the result of discarded apple cores by humans.