''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 appropriat ...

of the

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

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 ...

'',

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, bo ...

means "forest apple" and the truly wild tree has thorns.

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 taxonomic groups of animals (mostly invertebrates) do not have ...

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 trees are cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus '' Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, where its wild ancest ...

(''M. domestica''), which has since been shown to have been primarily derived from the central Asian species '' M. sieversii''. However another recent

DNA analysis Genetic testing, also known as DNA testing, is used to identify changes in DNA sequence or chromosome structure. Genetic testing can also include measuring the results of genetic changes, such as RNA analysis as an output of gene expression, or ...

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 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 the fo ...

, 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 rec ...

. 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 Sy ...

s of the

twin-spotted sphinx ''Smerinthus jamaicensis'', the twin-spotted sphinx, is a moth of the family Sphingidae. The species was first described by Dru Drury in 1773. Distribution It is widely distributed across North America. It has been taken as far north as the ...

(''Smerinthus jamaicensis'') and possibly the hawthorn moth (''Scythropia crataegella'').

Gallery

References

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