Malus fusca (Raf.) C.K. Schneid.
Pacific crab apple (Oregon crabapple)
Rosaceae (Rose family)
Introduction to Vascular Plants
Pacific crab apple (Oregon crabapple)
Rosaceae (Rose family)
Introduction to Vascular Plants
Introduction
The Pacific crab apple is a small deciduous tree or shrub that is found from Alaska south to California.
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Species Information
General:
Tall shrub or small tree, 2-8 (12) m tall; branches armed with stiff, sharp, thorn-like spur-shoots; young twigs curly-hairy; bark brown, rough, shredding, the older bark deeply fissured.
Leaves:
Alternate, deciduous, lance- to egg-shaped, long-stalked, the blades 3-9 cm long, sharp-pointed at the tip, saw-toothed and often irregularly lobed, green and smooth or hairy above, paler and hairy below.
Flowers:
Inflorescences flat-topped clusters of 5 to 12 long-stalked flowers on short spur-shoots; corollas white to pink, fragrant, about 2 cm across, the petals 5, egg-shaped, 8-14 mm long; calyces hairy, 5-lobed, the lobes lanceolate, bent back, 3-5 mm long, deciduous; ovaries inferior; styles usually 3, smooth; stamens about 20.
Fruits:
Fleshy pomes (small apples), ellipsoid to egg-shaped, 1-1.5 cm long, green becoming yellow to reddish or purplish, 3- to 4-chambered; seeds 1 or 2 per chamber.
Illustration
If more than one illustration is available for a species (e.g., separate illustrations were provided for two subspecies) then links to the separate images will be provided below. Note that individual subspecies or varietal illustrations are not always available.
Illustration Source: The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia
USDA Species Characteristics
Flower Colour:
White
Blooming Period:
Mid Spring
Fruit/Seed characteristics:
Colour: Yellow
Present from Summer to Fall
Source: The USDA
Ecology
Ecological Framework for Malus fusca
The table below shows the species-specific information calculated from
original data (BEC database) provided by the BC Ministry of Forests and Range.
(Updated August, 2013)
The table below shows the species-specific information calculated from
original data (BEC database) provided by the BC Ministry of Forests and Range.
(Updated August, 2013)
| Site Information |
Value / Class |
||
|
Avg |
Min |
Max |
|
| Elevation
(metres) |
121 | 0 | 1420 |
| Slope
Gradient (%) |
6 | 0 | 120 |
|
Aspect (degrees) |
208 | 0 | 360 |
| Soil
Moisture Regime (SMR) [0 - very xeric; 4 - mesic; 8 - hydric] |
5 | 0 | 8 |
| Modal
Nutrient Regime
Class |
D | ||
| #
of field plots species was recorded in: |
357 | ||
| Modal
BEC Zone Class |
CWH | ||
|
All BEC Zones (# of stations/zone) species was recorded in |
CDF(47), CWH(280), ICH(10), SBS(2) | ||
|
Source:
Klinkenberg 2013
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Habitat and Range
Moist to wet, open forests, streambanks, upper beaches, shoreline thickets, estuary fringes, swamps and bogs in the lowland zone; common on coastal islands and adjacent mainland; N to AK and S to CA.Status Information
Synonyms
Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Malus diversifolia (Bong.) M. Roem.
Malus fusca var. levipes (Nutt.) C.K. Schneid.
Pyrus diversifolia
Pyrus fusca Raf.
Pyrus rivularis Dougl. ex Hook.