BULLETIN 
OF 
POPULAR INFORMATION 
JAMAICA PLAIN, MASS. MAY 28. 1923 
American Crab Apples. Among the small North American trees still 
imperfectly known to botanists and wood-lovers and scarcely known at 
all to gardeners are the different species, varieties and hybrids of 
the Wild Apple. Nine species of these trees are now recognized, with 
several varieties, and two hybrids and their varieties. They have white 
or pink fragrant flowers which do not open until the leaves are partly 
or entirely grown, and green or pale yellow fragrant fruit which hangs 
on slender stems and, with the exception of that of the species from 
the northwestern part of the country is depressed-globose, usually 
from an inch to two and a half inches in diameter and covered with 
a waxy secretion. All the species spread into thickets and are excel¬ 
lent plants for the decoration of wood-borders and glades. Some of 
the species have only been distinguished in recent years, and although 
the species and many of the varieties are now growing in the Arbore¬ 
tum several of these have not yet flowered; only two or three of these 
Crab Apples can be found in commercial nurseries. 
Malus glaucescens, which is named from the pale glaucous color of 
the under surface of the leaves, is the first of the American species to 
flower here and has been blooming for more than a week. It is a shrub 
usually rather than a tree, not more than fifteen feet high, with stems 
four or five inches in diameter. The flowers are white or rose color, 
up to an inch and a half across, and the pale yellow fruit is often from 
an inch to an inch and a half in diameter. It is common in several 
western New York counties and ranges to western Pennsylvania, south¬ 
ern Ontario and Ohio, and occurs on the southern Appalachian Moun¬ 
tains to northern Alabama. 
25 
