Buds are arranged spirally along the
twigs, scales orange-brown to red-brown and buds at the end of the branches
are inclined to be larger than the others.
The truly wild Crab Apple has thorns.
The bark is pale brown to grey and quite smooth on younger
branches. On older trees it is grey-brown to mid-brown and becomes flaky in places
or it can have a cracked, scale-like appearance.
Some small, scattered lenticels (breathing pores) are evident.
The stalked leaves are a glossy dark-green above and slightly lighter
underneath and vary in
shape from being almost roundish to a long oval shape, but all end in a point
and have finely toothed edges. Size varies from 4-10 cm long
to 3-6 cm wide.
There are 3-6 pairs of side veins, which may branch into 2-3 tiny veins near
the edge of the leaf. The leaves appear together with the flowers in the last
half of April. In the autumn, the leaves turn brown or a ruddy gold colour and
the leaf stems often turn bright red.
The
large bisexual fragrant flowers are up to 1˝ cm in diameter and grow in
bunches of 4-7 on their own stalks from the buds. They have five
heart-shaped white petals, which are often tinged with pink and about twenty
stamens with yellow antlers. The calyx is five lobed. They are pollinated by
bees.
The
apples are formed by the swelling of the stem below the calyx, because that is
where the ovary originates. The inner wall of the ovary becomes the apple core
around the seeds. The outer wall of the ovary becomes the skin around the
white fleshy part of the apple.
The
apples from the wild Crab apple tree, which are botanically known as
‘pomes’ will be ready by October. When they are ripe, they are yellow,
sometimes flushed with red. They are about an inch in diameter, very acid and
tart. The core holds up to 5 brown seeds.
Cultivation:
The Crab can be grown from seed, but a more common way
to raise the little trees, which are grown to serve as
rootstock for cultivated Apples, is by layering. The stem
is cut to encourage multiple stem to sprout up. These are
then earthed up to encourage root-growth from each
individual ste,
Uses:
The wood is very
hard, heavy and close grained. This makes it excellent in
use for anything that has to endure heavy wear and tear,
such as tools and handles. Apple is therefore one of the
favourite woods to make clubs and wooden wedges. Such
wedges were once an important woodcraft tool, because they
were used in splitting trunks and poles. A knotty apple
log could also make a splendid mallet head, especially
when there was a side-branch next to it, which could be
cut off to the desired length as a handle.
Apple is a beautiful timber for
decorative furniture, but because the trunks are often short and the branches
small and twisted, it is only usually made into small pieces of furniture and
kitchen tools.
Seasoned Apple makes a wonderfully
luxurious firewood with a lovely scent. If you’re lucky enough to have any you
may like to save it for a special occasion.
Crab Apple wood harvested from wild trees may of course be
smaller than its cultivated sisters, depending on its
growing conditions. But it has to be remembered, that
because of the use of Crab Apple as stock to graft
cultivated trees upon, the trunks of many domesticated
Apple Trees are in fact Crab Apple trunks, although this
stock may also have been subject to intensive breeding and
selection processes.
Apple traditions:
The Apple has one of the richest treasures of myth and
lore amongst all of our trees and is featured in many
European cultures as the Tree of Life. Its fruit was seen
as a symbol of immortality.
Click on this link
to read our much more extensive article about the Apple
Traditional knowledge:
The-Tree also offers a page where
you can read the entry for Apple
from "A Modern Herbal" (Mrs. M. Grieve, ed. Mrs.
C.F.Leyel) published in 1931. Obviously things have moved on
since then, yet this book is still often unsurpassed in its scope
and depth of traditional knowledge. The page pops up in a new
window. Close it to return to the Tree Gallery.
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