American Crabapple (Malus coronaria)

A deciduous tree from the Rose Family (Rosaceae)

American Crabapple, also known as Wild Crabapple or Sweet Crabapple, is present throughout all of Ohio, and predominates as a spreading tree native to the upper two-thirds of the Eastern United States, especially the Midwestern States. It is known for its very fragrant, white to white-pink blossoms that are the last among the Crabapples to bloom. Its fruits are very bitter (Sweet Crabapple refers to the scent of both the flowers and fruits, not the taste of the fruits) and greenish-yellow when mature, but make excellent jelly or jam due to their high pectin and high acid content (enough added sugar makes anything taste good). It is also used as a rootstock on which to graft some cultivated forms of apple, giving the grafted tree cold hardiness and adaptability to local soils. American Crabapple reaches 25 feet tall by 35 feet wide as an individual specimen under optimum conditions, but forms colonies of indeterminate width with time. As a member of the Rose Family, it is related to the Serviceberries, Chokeberries, Hawthorns, Plums, Cherries, Pears, and Roses, as well as other Crabapple and Apple species and hybrids.

Planting Requirements- American Crabapple, like many members of the Rose Family, is very adaptable to a wide variety of environmental conditions, including soils that are rich, average, poor, or rocky, and of acidic, neutral, or alkaline pH. This species likes moist, well-drained soils, tolerates drier soils, and is most commonly found in fields, along fencerows, and at the edges of woodlands, where it forms colonies and usually thrives on neglect in full sun. American Crabapple is found in zones 4 to 7.

Potential Problems- American Crabapple, like all members of the Rose Family, is prone to a host of diseases and pests, which primarily affect the foliage and fruits. Rust is particularly troublesome to the leaves of American Crabapple, causing many of them to drop, especially when they are found near Junipers (the alternate host) and during wet springs, which promote the spread and development of the disease.

Leaf Identification Features

Leaves of American Crabapple are alternate, ranging from triangular and ovate to narrowly elliptical, and serrated. Larger leaves found on vigorous suckers and watersprouts may even be slightly lobed. Fall color is usually green to chartreuse, but can have some leaves that are bright yellow

Other Identification Features

American Crabapple has flowers that are the last of the Crabapples to bloom in mid-spring, being pink in bud, and white to white-pink when fully open. They are noted as being extremely fragrant, and have longer pedicels that most other members of the genus Malus. The flowers clothe the nearly bare branches of this native tree in mid-spring, just as the vegetative buds are beginning to break with small green foliage. Fruits that result from the perfect flowers are yellow-green at maturity and very bitter to the taste.

The twigs and thorns of American Crabapple comprise its dense, criss-crossing canopy of woody entanglement. Mature bark is fissured into irregular-sized gray plates. American Crabapple, like most small trees and large shrubs found in open fields, crowded fencerows, and woodland edges, is often multitrunked, has dead interior branches from self-shading, and may lean with age. Like Smooth Sumac and American Plum, individual trees may form a colony with age, primarily due to germination of its own seeds, but in part due to maturation of root suckers.