ROSACEAE 



The Apples 



Characteristics of the Genus Malus Mill. 



<■ 

 HABIT. Shrubs to medium-sized trees, the native species 



having little or no importance; broad, rounded, open crowns. 



LEAVES. Alternate; simple; deciduous, or rarely half- 

 evergreen; toothed and in native species more or less lobed; 

 stipules free from the petioles, early deciduous; petiolate. 



FLOWERS. Regular; perfect; in short terminal racemes; 

 on spurlike, sometimes spinescent branches; appearing with 

 or after the leaves; calyx 5-lobed, sometimes persistent and 

 erect on fruit; petals white to red, showy; stamens 15-50; ovary 

 inferior, usually with 5 carpels. 



FRUIT. A fleshy pome with papery carpels joined at their 

 apex; indehiscent; important as food in some species. Seed: 

 1-2 in each cell, ovoid, acute, chestnut-brown. 



TWIGS. Slender to stout; round; fruit spurs roughened by 

 leaf scars. Winter buds: terminal present, small, scaly, obtuse. 



BARK. Thin; scaly; gray to red-brown; often fissured. 



WOOD. Heavy; hard; fine-textured; diffuse-porous; heart- 

 wood red-brown; used to some extent for tool handles. 



GENERAL. This taxonomically difficult genus contains about 

 25 species scattered through the Northern Hemisphere, The 

 6 species native to North America are unimportant, however, 

 several Eurasian species are widely cultivated for their fruits or 

 flowers. Many authors combine Malus with Pyrus, the name for 

 apple becoming Pyrus malus L. 



Common Pear 

 Pyrus communis L. 



This Eurasian species is widely cultivated for its fruit and 

 is a common escape in North America. In addition to its dis- 

 tinctive "Pear-shaped" pomaceous fruit, it differs from the closely 

 related apple in having more lustrous, thinner, and less hairy 

 leaves. 



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