CRAB APPLE 
“CRAB APPLE. FRAGRANT CRAB 
ZI rus coronaria 
Pyrus is the classical name of the pear tree, which was adopted 
by Linnzeus for this genus. 
Often a bushy shrub with rigid, contorted branches but frequently 
becomes a small tree with a broad open head. Prefers rich moist 
soil; is most abundant in the middle and western states, reaches its 
greatest size in the valleys of the lower Ohio basin. 
Bark.—Reddish brown, longitudinally fissured, with surface sepa- 
rating in narrow scales. Branchlets at first coated with thick white 
tomentum, later they become smooth reddish brown; they develop 
in their second year long, spur-like branches and sometimes absolute 
thorns an inch or more in length. 
WVood.—Reddish brown, sapwood yellow; heavy, close-grained, 
not strong. Used for the handles of tools and small domestic arti- 
cles. Sp. gr., 0.7048 ; weight of cu. ft., 43.92. 
Winter Buds.—Bright red, obtuse, minute. Inner scales grow 
with the growing shoot, become half an inch long and bright red 
before they fall. 
Leaves.—Alternate, simple, ovate, three to four inches long, one 
and one-half to two inches broad, obtuse, subcordate or acute at 
base, incisely serrate, often three-lobed on vigorous shoots, acute at 
apex. Feather-veined, midrib and primary veins grooved above, 
prominent beneath. They come out of the bud involute, red bronze, 
tomentose and downy; when full grown are bright dark green above, 
paler beneath. Inautumn they turn yellow. Petioles slender, long, 
often with two dark glands near the middle. Stipules filiform, half 
an inch long, early deciduous. 
Flowers.—May, June, when leaves are nearly grown. Perfect, rose- 
colored, fragrant, one and one-half inch to two inches across. Borne 
in five or six-flowered umbels on slender pedicels. 
Calyx.—Urn-shaped, downy or tomentose, five-lobed ; lobes slen- 
der, acute, persistent, imbricate in bud. 
Corolla.—Petals five, rose colored, obovate, rounded above, with 
long narrow claws, undulate or crenulate at margin, inserted on the 
calyx tube, imbricate in bud. 
Stamens.—Ten to twenty, inserted on the calyx tube, shorter than 
the petals; filaments by a partial twist forming a tube narrowed in 
the middle and enlarged above; anthers introrse, two-celled; cells 
opening longitudinally. 
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