Malus domestica
Content
Description
Small trees, up to 10 m.
Leaves elliptic-ovate, 4-13 by 3-7 cm, base rounded, margins serrate, apex acute, with 3-6 pairs of nerves, usually hairy underneath.
Inflorescence a simple raceme, terminal on short shoots.
Sepals persistent on the fruit.
Petals white to pinkish.
Ovary 4- or 5-celled, inferior, ovules 2 per cell.
Fruit a pome, globular to obovoid, exocarp glabrous, variously coloured, mesocarp fleshy, without stone cells, endocarp leathery to bony.
Seeds usually 2 per cell.
Distribution
Asia-Tropical: Philippines (Philippines cultivated), E Java cultivated, Timor cultivated, West Asia present, over the entire world present
Originated in West Asia, now spread over the entire world. In Malesia: cultivated in E Java, Timor, the Philippines, and probably some other islands.
Notes
The name accepted pertains to the cultivated apple which is supposed to be derived from wild Malus pumila and several other species hybridized with it. Since the genetic make-up of its many cultivars cannot be ascertained, a separate specific epithet seems warranted, although other ways of reasoning may lead to the acceptance of one of the other names mentioned above.