Malus sylvestris

Malus sylvestris
Conservation status
Data Deficient (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Rosids
Order:	Rosales
Family:	Rosaceae
Genus:	Malus
Species:	M. sylvestris
Binomial name
Malus sylvestris (L.) Mill.

Malus sylvestris, the European wild apple, is a species of Malus (crabapple), native to Europe from as far south as Spain, Italy and Greece to as far north as Scandinavia and Russia. Its scientific name means "forest apple", and the truly wild tree has thorns.

In the past, M. sylvestris was thought to be an important ancestor of the cultivated apples (M. domestica), but these have now been shown to be primarily derived from the central Asian species M. sieversii.^[1] However, another recent DNA analysis^[2] showed that M. sylvestris has contributed to the ancestry of M. domestica.

The flowers are hermaphrodite and are pollinated by insects. Its leaves are food of the caterpillars of the Twin-spotted Sphinx (Smerinthus jamaicensis) and possibly the Hawthorn Moth (Scythropia crataegella).

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  Flowers

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  Fruits

See also

• List of Lepidoptera that feed on Malus

References

1. ^ Velasco R., Zharkikh A., Affourtit J. et al., The genome of the domesticated apple (Malus x domestica Borkh.) Nature Genetics, 2010, 42, 10, 833
2. ^ 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.

• M.H.A. Hoffman, List of names of woody plants, Applied Plant Research, Boskoop 2005.
• RHS dictionary of gardening, 1992

External links

• Jepson Manual Treatment
• USDA Plants Profile
• Malus sylvestris in Topwalks Plants of Spain
• Calphotos photo gallery