Description: Deciduous shrubs or trees, rarely spiny.
Leaves simple, sometimes lobed.
Flowers in umbels. Petals clawed. Stamens 15–50. Carpels 3–5, fused, walls cartilaginous in fruit; ovules 2 or more; styles 2–5, united at base.
Pome ± globose, fleshy, usually without stone cells.
Distribution and occurrence: World: c. 35 species, northern temperate regions. Australia: 1 species (naturalized).
Species of Malus are cultivated for their edible fruits (apples) or as ornamentals (crabapples). Many varieties have been developed over a long period. The apple is of hybrid origin, derived from a number of European species with some Asiatic species included. Malus was formerly placed in the family Malaceae (now part of Rosaceae), e.g. Flora of New South Wales Vol. 1 (1990).
Text by G. J. Harden & A. N. Rodd
Taxon concept:
| One species in NSW: Malus x domestica |
|
