Malus fusca

(Rafinesque) C. K. Schneider

Ill. Handb. Laubholzk. 1: 723. 1906.

Common names: Oregon or western or Pacific crabapple
Endemic
Basionym: Pyrus fusca Rafinesque Med. Fl. 2: 254. 1830
Synonyms: Malus diversifolia (Bongard) M. Roemer M. fusca var. diversifolia (Bongard) C. K. Schneider M. fusca var. levipes (Nuttall) C. K. Schneider M. macounii Bongard M. rivularis Douglas P. diversifolia P. rivularis
Treatment appears in FNA Volume 9. Treatment on page 476. Mentioned on page 472, 473, 477.
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Trees, sometimes shrubs, 50–100 (–200) dm. Stems (12–) 20–30 (–40) cm diam.; bark gray to reddish-brown, smooth when young, scaly and deeply fissured at maturity; young branches reddish, puberulent when young, becoming reddish-brown or gray and glabrous; lateral flowering shoots becoming spurs, 10–30 (–50) mm. Buds redbrown, ovoid, 1.5–4 mm, scale margins ciliate. Leaves conduplicate in bud; isomorphic; stipules deciduous, narrowly lanceolate, 1–5 mm, apex acuminate; petiole 10–30 mm, tomentose, glabrescent; blade ovate, sometimes oval, elliptic, or lanceolate, 3–9 (–11) × 1–4 cm, base rounded to cuneate, margins unlobed or 3-lobed, serrate to doubly serrate, sometimes serrulate, apex acute or acuminate, abaxial surface glabrous, adaxial puberulent. Panicles corymblike; peduncles absent; bracts absent; bracteoles sometimes persistent, filiform, 1–4 mm. Pedicels 15–40 mm, villous or glabrous. Flowers 15–20 mm diam.; hypanthium glabrous or tomentose; sepals triangular, 3–6 mm, shorter than tube, apex apiculate, abaxial surface glabrous, adaxial hoary-tomentose; petals white, sometimes pink, orbiculate to obovate, (6–) 10–15 mm, claws 1.5–2 mm, margins erose or undulate, apex rounded; stamens ca. 20, 4–6 mm, anthers white before dehiscence; styles 3 (or 4), connate in proximal 1/3, 6–7 mm, longer than stamens, glabrous. Pomes yellow to purplish red, oblong, sometimes ovoid or obovoid, 6–10 (–13) mm diam., cores enclosed at apex; sepals deciduous, sometimes tardily; sclereids abundant surrounding core. Seeds reddish-brown. 2n = 34.


Phenology: Flowering Apr–early Jul; fruiting Jun–Nov.
Habitat: Moist, open places, open Sitka spruce forests, forest edges, beach edges, sea cliffs, swamps, bogs, brackish marshes, clearings
Elevation: 0–600 m

Distribution

V9 802-distribution-map.jpg

B.C., Alaska, Calif., Oreg., Wash.

Discussion

Malus fusca is tolerant of occasional exposure to salt water. The dry flesh of the fruit is edible, and while tart, becomes sweeter with time. The bark was prepared as medicine by western coastal Native Americans.

Malus fusca is a western North American apple species that is morphologically and phylogenetically closer to Asian species than to eastern North American ones (E. E. Dickson 1995). The species hybridizes in Oregon and Washington with the cultivated apple, M. pumila (P. F. Zika 2004), and the hybrid is M. ×dawsoniana Rehder. Similar in habit and bark to M. fusca, the hybrid differs by its larger flowers and larger elliptic-oblong or obovate-oblong, (4 or)5-loculed fruit with a persistent calyx. It differs from M. prunifolia by its corymblike inflorescences and the pome lacking swollen sepals.

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa

None.

"dm" is not declared as a valid unit of measurement for this property.

... more about "Malus fusca"
hoary-tomentose +  and puberulent +
rounded;acuminate;acute;acuminate +
Elizabeth E. Dickson +
(Rafinesque) C. K. Schneider +
gray +  and reddish-brown +
fissured +
compound +  and simple +
opposite +  and alternate +
rounded +  and cuneate +
Pyrus fusca +
9 cm90 mm <br />0.09 m <br /> (11 cm110 mm <br />0.11 m <br />) +
2 cm20 mm <br />0.02 m <br /> (4 cm40 mm <br />0.04 m <br />) +
3 cm30 mm <br />0.03 m <br /> (9 cm90 mm <br />0.09 m <br />) +
lanceolate +, elliptic +, oval +  and ovate +
4 cm40 mm <br />0.04 m <br /> (12 cm120 mm <br />0.12 m <br />) +
leathery +  and membranous +
1 cm10 mm <br />0.01 m <br /> (?) +  and 4 cm40 mm <br />0.04 m <br /> (?) +
linear-lanceolate +  and ovate +
membranous +
gray +, reddish-brown +  and reddish +
glabrous +  and puberulent +
0.15 cm1.5 mm <br />0.0015 m <br /> (0.4 cm4 mm <br />0.004 m <br />) +
adnate +  and connate +
0.15 cm1.5 mm <br />0.0015 m <br /> (0.2 cm2 mm <br />0.002 m <br />) +
Oregon or western or Pacific crabapple +
B.C. +, Alaska +, Calif. +, Oreg. +  and Wash. +
not +  and aggregated +
0–600 m +
homogeneous +
1.5 cm15 mm <br />0.015 m <br /> (2 cm20 mm <br />0.02 m <br />) +
not +  and aggregated +
not +  and aggregated +
red +, yellow +  and green +
0.6 cm6 mm <br />0.006 m <br /> (5 cm50 mm <br />0.05 m <br />) +
Moist, open places, open Sitka spruce forests, forest edges, beach edges, sea cliffs, swamps, bogs, brackish marshes, clearings +
tomentose +  and glabrous +
campanulate +
tomentose +  and not glabrous +
crassinucellate +
3 cm30 mm <br />0.03 m <br /> (5 cm50 mm <br />0.05 m <br />) +
1 cm10 mm <br />0.01 m <br /> (3 cm30 mm <br />0.03 m <br />) +
deciduous +
serrulate +, serrate +  and doubly serrate +
undulate +, 3-lobed +  and unlobed +
inferior +  and superior +
biseriate +  and clustered +
collateral +  and basal +
tomentose +  and glabrous +
corymblike +
glabrous +  and villous +
1.5 cm15 mm <br />0.015 m <br /> (4 cm40 mm <br />0.04 m <br />) +
0 (?) +  and 4 (?) +
0.6 cm6 mm <br />0.006 m <br /> (1 cm10 mm <br />0.01 m <br />) +
pink +  and white +
free +  and distinct +
orbiculate;obovate +
1 cm10 mm <br />0.01 m <br /> (1.5 cm15 mm <br />0.015 m <br />) +
glabrescent +  and tomentose +
1 cm10 mm <br />0.01 m <br /> (3 cm30 mm <br />0.03 m <br />) +
Flowering Apr–early Jul +  and fruiting Jun–Nov. +
adnate +, free +, connate +  and distinct +
yellow +  and purplish red +
0.6 cm6 mm <br />0.006 m <br /> (1 cm10 mm <br />0.01 m <br />) +
obovoid +, ovoid +  and oblong +
Ill. Handb. Laubholzk. +
not arillate +
reddish-brown +
deciduous +
free +  and distinct +
reflexed +, erect +  and wide spreading +
triangular +
0.3 cm3 mm <br />0.003 m <br /> (0.6 cm6 mm <br />0.006 m <br />) +
free +  and distinct +
unequal +
0.4 cm4 mm <br />0.004 m <br /> (?) +  and 0.6 cm6 mm <br />0.006 m <br /> (?) +
branched +  and simple +
20 cm200 mm <br />0.2 m <br /> (30 cm300 mm <br />0.3 m <br />) +
lanceolate +
0.1 cm1 mm <br />0.001 m <br /> (0.5 cm5 mm <br />0.005 m <br />) +
membranous +
deciduous +  and persistent +
basal +, lateral +, subterminal +  and terminal +
elongate +
0.6 cm6 mm <br />0.006 m <br /> (0.7 cm7 mm <br />0.007 m <br />) +
tomentose +  and glabrous +
Malus diversifolia +, M. fusca var. diversifolia +, M. fusca var. levipes +, M. macounii +, M. rivularis +, P. diversifolia +  and P. rivularis +
Malus fusca +
species +
tomentose +, puberulent +, villous +, glabrescent +  and glabrous +
inconspicuous +
shrub +  and tree +