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Resources < Wildlife Habitats < Guide to Native Plants of Georgia for Wildlife < Malus angustifolia
The Southern Crabapple is one of four native species of the genus Malus, the Chinese varieties giving us our commercially familiar apples. It is a tough tree whose favored habitat is an open, sunny location. It requires far less care than other apple varieties and needs little pruning, fertilizer, or water. Its delicate pink flowers give it excellent potential as an ornamental, and they are followed by some of the tartest fruits imaginable next to the infamous Persimmon. Even aficionados of old ‘Granny Smith’ are unprepared for the punch our native Crabapples can pack. The one consideration before planting is a disease called cedar-apple rust, which alternately infects Southern Crabapple and Eastern Redcedar, damaging the fruits of the Crabapple.
The Southern Crabapple can also serve as a pollinator for more traditional apple trees, and its fruit may then be forsaken so that the birds and other wildlife can have a meal. Make sure not to spray your trees with chemicals of any kind, especially insecticides, in order to allow you to enjoy the insects and birds that will surely delight in the presence of this tree.
Rosaceae (Rose)
Small tree with a short, stout trunk and wide, open branching habit. Bark is rough and gray. Twig growth is dense, and the tree has a tendency to form root suckers and thickets. Leaves deciduous simple, alternate; blades ovate to elliptical, base tapered, apex blunt to broadly tapered, up to 2” long and ¾ wide, margins of some leaves crenate others serrate or nearly entire. Flowers pink, 5-petaled, fragrant and followed by small, sour green crabapples.
10-20 feet tall and 8-15 feet wide
Small, wide tree with a short but stout trunk and wide, open branching habit with dense-growing small twigs
Fast
Full sun required for significant flowering and fruiting
Be aware that our four native Malus species, including this one, are all extremely susceptible to a disease called cedar-apple rust, which partially defoliates the plants in summer. The rust, a fungus, spreads exclusively between cedar and apple trees, so locating your Crabapple away from any type of cedar tree will prevent the disease and leave you with a healthy tree.
Plant in moist soils in an open situation.
Assets include the fragrant, lovely, and abundant pink flowers. The fruits are tart but can be sweetened to make jellies or juices if enough trees are present.
Southern Crabapple is excellent as an ornamental if care is taken to prevent cedar-apple rust. It naturalizes well in fields and makes a great pollinator for other apple varieties. It readily draws birds to nest because of its thick, dense, and protective twig structure.
Crabapples provide fruit for mammals and birds, and the leaves are fed on by the caterpillars of butterflies and moths like the Cecropia Moth, Cloudless Sulphur, Spring Azure, Viceroy Admiral, White Admiral, Orange-Tip Admiral, and Striped Hairstreak. The apples are eaten by deer, foxes, raccoons, squirrels, and turkeys.
Open woodlands and thickets from North Carolina to Arkansas, south to Louisiana and northern Florida. It also grows readily on the moist soils surrounding stream banks and slopes as well as along fence rows in old fields.
Green seeds in the fall and chilled seeds in the spring (easy propagation), or digging and transplanting the root suckers
Also known as Southern Crabapple
Written by Kevin Tarner, Georgia Wildlife Federation
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