I saw a tree in a park, at first I wondered what it was : straight trunk, rounded head, and orange "berries" in clusters. I went closer and I realized it is a Malus (apple-tree). Unfortunately, I didn't take any picture of the whole tree, but I think it is a Malus of some kind. I gathered a couple of dozen fruits and split one to see. I have a couple of apple-trees with small fruit : Malus sylvestris, Malus coccinella, Malus Evereste, and Malus 'van Eseltine'. But this one looks a different. Any idea what it can be ?
Your mystery tree is not Malus... common name apple as you can see from the fruits. I suspect it is Crataegus sp...Hawthorn family Apples cut in half always have the 5 seeds in a star arrangement.
Permit me to disagree : the leaves don't look at all like Crataegus. What's more, I alredy "dissected" fruit from both Crataegus and Malus, and I'm pretty sure these fruit are apples, tiny ones, but definitely not some kind of hawthorn. Anyway, I gathered the seeds to plant them : I'll let you know...
I hope Daniel, Ron B or Michael F will pop by to help. I do not know Crataegus sp well, but did wonder about Crataegus x persimilis......known by the common names plumleaf hawthorn and broad-leaved cockspur thorn, Crataegus x persimilis - Google Search
Knew I could count on you Ron. Much appreciated. Crataegus × lavallei | Landscape Plants | Oregon State University Crataegus × lavalleei, - Google Search
Thanks a lot Ron B, and Silver surfer, I seached the web fo "Lavalle hawtorne", and got links to "Lavelle hawthorne". The close-up photo of the fruit matches the one I took ! I think you're right, it must be "Crataegus x Lavellei" What's more, the photos of the bark look exactly like the tree in the park. I never suspected there was a hawthorne that looked like that -LOL- PS : I had a friend at school whose name was "Lavelle". Related to the palyndrom city of "Laval" ;°) Latin "villa", domain, then village.
... and thanks Silver surfer for pointing my misinterpretation of the name : I don't know where I found "Lavellei", which is mispelled and led me to a wrong interpretation : Crataegus × lavalleei, sometimes known as hybrid cockspurthorn or Lavallée's hawthorn ^_^
I stewed two Macintosh apples this morning, didn't think to start by cutting them crosswise to see how, between the two of them, they had 23 seeds. Edited - I found one on the floor, so 24 seeds.
