Flora of New Zealand Series

apple

Deciduous, small to medium-sized tree, up to 6 m (sometimes taller in cultivation), not armed; trunk usually well developed; branches spreading; young stems tomentose and greyish brown; bark of older stems grey and ± smooth, except near base of tree. Lvs otfen crowded on short shoots; petiole 10-35 mm long, tomentose; blade ovate to broadly elliptic or suborbicular, 30-110 × 15-80 mm, subacute to acute, ± obtuse at base, pilose above when young but becoming glabrate or remaining pilose along veins, densely greyish or greenish tomentose below; margins crenate-serrate; stipules linear-lanceolate, tomentose, attenuate, often somewhat reddish. Fls on short shoots in clusters of (2)-4-6-(8); pedicels 8-15-(20) mm long, whitish tomentose. Sepal lobes 5-8 mm long, triangular and often dark red-tipped, tomentose, reflexed. Petals white to pink, most commonly white inside and pink outside and in bud, orbicular to almost oblong or ovate, (12)-17-24 × 8-18 mm, somewhat concave and crinkled. Stamens and styles much < petals. Fr. subglobose to broad-ovoid, usually 30-80 mm diam. (to c. 120 mm in cultivation), prominently or shortly pedicellate, sweet to sour when ripe; skin smooth, green to yellow, reddish, or streaked green and red.

N.; S.; St.

Cultivated hybrid from Eurasian spp. 1872

Along railway lines, roadsides and tracks, often adjacent to picnic sites, orchards, abandoned gardens, sometimes in wasteland and gullies or on hillsides up to at least 750 m.

FL Sep-Nov FT Mar-Jun.

M. × domestica is widely cultivated as the apple of commercial and home gardens and is frequent as a relic of cultivation. It is naturalised as solitary trees or occasionally in groves. Many hundreds of cvs have been described and among naturalised apples in N.Z. considerable variation is encountered in habit and size, petal colour and fr. characteristics. Healy, A. J., Trans. Roy. Soc. N.Z. 85: 541 (1958), noted that the apple "is a characteristic plant along road and railway reserves, serving to illustrate dispersal of fruits by human agency. Observations along the main trunk railway lines in both islands show a band of Malus trees extending from the northern to the southern limit of the railway system including those localities remote from settlement". Apples were first recorded as Pyrus malus.

Bean, W. J., Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles 2, ed. 8 (1973), stated that the cvs of M. × domestica have been derived from several Eurasian spp., the most likely being M. dasyphylla Borkh., M. praecox (Pallas) Borkh., M. prunifolia (Willd.) Borkh., M. sieversii (Ledeb.) M. Roemer, and M. sylvestris (L.) Miller. The names M. pumila and M. sylvestris subsp. mitis have also been used for domestic apples in N.Z.

As in many other temperate countries, many hybrids between M. × domestica and spp. from E. Asia, particularly M. baccata, are grown in N.Z. These are the crab apples which are mainly grown for ornament and are abundantly cultivated throughout the country, sometimes appearing wild because like domestic apples they persist for a long time in and around abandoned settlements and houses. However, they rarely regenerate. They are mainly distinguished by the smaller, very sour and often globose frs. Some crab apples are used as stocks for domestic apples and may grow up after the grafted plant has died.