Crab Apple Experts?

Discussion in 'Fruit and Nut Trees' started by Lysichiton, Jan 27, 2008.

  1. Lysichiton

    Lysichiton Active Member

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    Crab Apple Woodland

    Is anyone aware of Pacific Crab Apple (Malus fusca) - or escapes or hybrids with domestic crabapples - forming the dominant species in a a woodland of several acres? I suspect that some estuaries are likely areas for this to happen. If so, where & how common is this? Please let me know if there is a better forum on which to pose this question.

    TIA glass brain.
     
  2. Ron B

    Ron B Paragon of Plants 10 Years

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    Re: Crab Apple Woodland

    Might be some leads here, if you still need some after your post has been answered by others.

    http://herbarium.botany.ubc.ca/herbarium_data/vascular/search.htm

    Tested above link and it didn't work ("Unexpected Error"). Anyway, as you can see from the address I went to UBC Herbarium web site. There I searched the database for Malus fusca and got a list of links to records, including locations where specimens collected.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Feb 5, 2008
  3. jascha

    jascha Active Member

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    I am also curious about our native species of crabapple. Are you looking to acquire scionwood or seed?
     
  4. davelll

    davelll Member

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    4th corner nursery supplies seedlings
     
  5. Lysichiton

    Lysichiton Active Member

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    Niether. I am curious about a woodland I found & want to there is any information out there. There are some cultivated crabapples near to it. I will check in spring & see what kind of variation there is. I suspect they have all hybridized madly.
     
  6. jascha

    jascha Active Member

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    Whereabouts is this woodland? Are they all young trees? It would be great to find a really old tree which definitely wasn't a hybrid.
     
  7. Ron B

    Ron B Paragon of Plants 10 Years

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    The hybrid with orchard apple is called Dawson crabapple and can be fairly frequent where there are plenty of both growing near one another, as in the Willamette Valley.
     
  8. davelll

    davelll Member

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    I live in Southeast Alaska, where the crabs are not hybridized. There are lots of Malus fusca, if you want seed or scions let me know
     
  9. Daniel Mosquin

    Daniel Mosquin Paragon of Plants UBC Botanical Garden Forums Administrator Forums Moderator 10 Years

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    The person that comes to mind is Hugh Daubeny - one of his projects this year is to figure out whether the native crabapple produces compatible pollen for cultivated apple / crabapple trees. I'll send this thread along to him.
     
  10. Ron B

    Ron B Paragon of Plants 10 Years

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    The two are already known to cross and produce Malus x dawsoniana. Sabuco, The BEST OF THE HARDIEST said Oregon crabapple was being used in crosses to produce new disease-resistant ornamental crabapples but I haven't noticed anything else about this being mentioned elsewhere (I have not sought it out).

    But maybe the question here is if the Oregon crabapple is the pollen parent in crosses with orchard apple. Since the hybrid pops up in the wild presumably the Oregon crabpple is often the seed parent, its small fruits probably being more likely to be dispersed into wild stands by native wildlife. Although seen in various locations, of course, it seems to me pippins (spontaneous orchard apples) do tend to appear mostly where cores discarded by humans might be expected to occur, such as along roadsides and near habitations.

    http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/taxon.pl?23228
     
    Last edited: Feb 5, 2008
  11. Daniel Mosquin

    Daniel Mosquin Paragon of Plants UBC Botanical Garden Forums Administrator Forums Moderator 10 Years

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    Here's the reply from Hugh:

     
  12. Ron B

    Ron B Paragon of Plants 10 Years

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    As I said earlier the hybrid between the two is known as M. x dawsoniana (see link provided in my last post) and is seen to occur spontaneously where both parents are present. There may be thousands of these hybrid seedlings in places like Oregon's Willamette Valley. An example in Seattle's Discovery Park was 80 ft. tall when it blew over some years ago.
     

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