Difference between apples and crabapples

Can anyone enlighten me on the difference between apples and crabapples. I know they are all in the genus Malus, but someone once told me that when apple trees got old and started to lose their productivity and started having small apples, they were called crabapples. But I know there are many species that are specifically called crabapples, and so that explanation didn't make sense. Is there any botanical feature that differentiates the two?

This is about the best I can do. There are three species of crabapple, Malus floribunda, Malus hypehensis, and Malus sargenti. For the most part they are considered ornamentals although the fruit can be used for jelly. http://hgic.clemson.edu/factsheets/hgic1007.htm

Apples are species Malus domestica and are grown primarily for fruit. Except for those grafted onto dwarfing root stock, they are fairly large trees.

The difference between a crabapple and an apple is just the size - if the fruit is typically under 2", they are traditionally classified as crabs. Whether the fruit is edible or not doesn't count, there are crabs that are edible, such as Whitney (and there are large fruited apple varieties that are all but inedible and usable for cider only)

Fruit size can decline on standard trees, but typically you will see that caused by over-bearing, not the age of the tree. I have a 65 year-old Richared, and it will bear large-sized fruit if I thin the tree in June - otherwise I'll get hundreds of golf-ball sized fruit.

Emily, I don't think crabs are 100% malus domestica. I think they all have at least some other kind of malus in their genes. I have half a dozen crabs and all of the trees have a slightly different kind of growing habit and leaf shape color and texture that sets them apart from the malus domestica. Pitmaston Pineapple is an example of an apple which is less than 2" in diameter but is not called a crabapple, because its leaves etc look like 100% domestica. I don't think there is complete consistency in this naming, but I can nearly always guess only from the leaves whether it is called a crab or not. You are correct that many crabs are edible.

Scott

Crabs are sour and regular apples are not. Crabs are used to make jelly that is oh-so-GOOOOOOD!

Crabapples are basically wild apples that evolved in the forest. There are types native to North America, Asia, and Europe. A domesticated apple (the big ones) is one created over time by man through the use of hybridization. You will never see a big apple like the ones in the store growing on a wild tree.

Some crabapples have been tweaked with too though, but it's mostly for showier flowers and ornamental value, not fruit production.

This year we pickled crabapples and they are wonderful.....the fruit was a little tiny bit bigger than the size of golf balls, had sorta astringent flavor and were a brownish color but my goodness, are they good pickled......Deb

Crabapples can be delicious for fresh eating as well. The varieties Transcendent and Wickson are siberian crab apples which are just small very flavorable apples. They are great for jelly and cider and just to eat fresh. Some people preserve them for eating along with dinner, kind of as a chutney. There are a lot of ornamental crabapples around and they are best just used for the flowers they were bred for, but crabapples for eating have pretty flowers as well -- white in the case of Transcendent.

Check out this history of the apples ( including Wickson Crab) by Albert Etter. ( Wickson is about halfway down page.)

http://www.greenmantlenursery.com/fruit/etter-apples.htm
The Wickson apple can still be purchased at Trees of Antiquity and perhaps other mail order nurseries.

Here is the Whitney which is good for fresh eating as well as jellies, etc.
http://www.treesofantiquity.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=189

Here is Transcendent, which can also be eaten or made into jellies.
http://www.aaronscanna-amaryllis.com/product/Transcendent+Fruiting+Crabapple+Tree



This message was edited Nov 19, 2007 10:28 AM