Orchard Apple - Malus domestica
Description
Tree growing to 7 meters usually grown domestically for its edible fruit.
Similar Species
Crab Apple (Malus sylvestris) is similar but has glabrous leaf undersurfaces and pedicels, and usually has smaller fruit - however, the two species can be very hard to tell apart
Identification difficulty
ID guidance
Leaves pedicels and outside of calyx hairy or downy. Self-set orchard apples often have small yellowish sour fruits.
Recording advice
Photos showing underside of mature leaves, pedicels (flower-stalks) and calyx.
Habitat
Found as an escape from cultivation in various habitats.
When to see it
Flowers in April.
Life History
Deciduous.
UK Status
Widespread as an escape from cultivation in Britain.
VC55 Status
Occasional as an escape from cultivation in Leicestershire and Rutland. It was not recorded in the 1979 Flora survey of Leicestershire. In the past, mistakenly recorded as crab-apple; it is probably commoner than this native species and many trees in roadside hedges are likely to be M domestica
Graham Calow
Entance road to Stoney Cove
03 August 2016
Graham Calow
Sapcote, Donkey Lane
06 July 2020
Hairy petiole
Graham Calow
Sapcote, Donkey Lane
06 July 2020
Graham Calow
Road alongside M69, Elmesthorpe
01 August 2016
Graham Calow
Road alongside M69, Elmesthorpe
01 August 2016
Graham Calow
Entance road to Stoney Cove
03 August 2016
David Gould
The Spearwort Fields
20 August 2017
Leicestershire & Rutland Map
Enter a town or village to see local records
MAP KEY:
Yellow squares = NBN records (all known data)
Coloured circles = NatureSpot records: 2020+ | 2015-2019 | pre-2015
UK Map
Graham Calow
Stoney Stanton, Long St Quarry edge
22 May 2021
David Nicholls
Broughton Astley, Broughton Way
08 June 2020
