Crabapple
Crabapple
Malus cv.
Rosaceae (Rose Family)
▲ ▼ white flowering cultivar and flowers
▲ ▼ red-flowering cultivar and flowers
▲ ▼ white/pink flowering cultivar and flowers
▲ ▼ pink-flowering cultivar and flowers
▲ ▼ var. sargentii and flowers
▲ weeping cultivar
▲ larger-fruited cultivar
▲ ▼ bark on young and older trees
▲ many trees had little damage after severe ice storm in Springfield, MO in 2007
Location on Missouri State University campus: on either side of MSU seal on east side of Carrington Hall; by west entrance to Karls Hall; many other locations
Malus cv.: Crabapples
- leaves alternate, simple, deciduous, ovate, with serrate margins and short petiole; dark green, glossy on top, lighter green and sometimes pubescent underneath; 1-3" long and 2/3 as wide
- stems slender, yellow-green to golden-brown to red to reddish-brown and purplish-brown, light lenticels, glabrous or glaucous
- bark gray-brown to tan, scaly
- grows 15-25' tall in upright oval to rounded to broad-spreading habit; often branching within a few feet of the ground; most cultivars are grafted, some are rooted cuttings
- flowers white, pink to red; fruit is a red, orange, yellow, greenish or purplish pome, 1/4" - 2" diameter (larger than 2" is considered an apple); flowers on previous season's growth
- prefers full sun and moist, well-drained soils with acid pH; prune out root suckers and water sprouts from older branches before June; good to prune as with apple trees to develop good branching habit for long life of tree
- prone to many diseases, particulary apple scab, cedar-apple rust, fireblight: best to select cultivars with some resistance to these diseases-- see textbooks, extension guides and internet websites on crabapples for recommended cultivars
- medium growth rate
- some native to Missouri