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Wild Apple
Malus spp.
Family: Rose (Rosaceae)
Height: 10-15' (3-4.5 m)
Tree: single crooked trunk, many spreading branches, creating a broad round crown
Leaf: simple, oval, 2-4" (5-10 cm) length, blunt-tipped, fine-toothed margin, dark green in color, densely hairy below
Bark: brown, scaly with peeling edges
Flower: 5-petaled showy white (sometimes streaked with pink) flower, 1-2" (2.5-5 cm) wide
Fruit: apple, edible with typical shape and size, 2-4" (5-10 cm) diameter
Fall Color: brown
Origin/Age: non-native, 25-50 years
Habitat: dry soils, along fencerows and roadsides, sun
Range: throughout
Stan’s Notes: A direct descendent from the ancestors of cultivated apples now sold in grocery stores. Introduced in colonial times to the U.S. along with the Crab Apple (p. 69). Found throughout the country now. The apples are edible and some are very delicious. The fruit has been used in jellies and desserts such as pies. These trees, usually associated with former homesteads, are found along roads or fencerows where seedlings were planted or where apples were discarded and seeds have taken root. Wide varieties of Wild Apple species are now naturalized in Minnesota.
