The World of Apples

Wild apples

Malus halliana Koehne

Hall crabapple

Description

Malus halliana is a small tree up to 5 m tall with slender purple shoots. Its leaves are ovate or elliptic, 3.5–8 cm long, dark green and often tinged purple. The flowers, 3–3.5 cm across, hang on slender purple stalks 2–4 cm long; their petals are pink and often more than five. The fruit is tiny, purplish, pear-shaped or egg-shaped and only 6–8 mm across. In China it flowers in March and April and fruits in September and October. Plants with 34 and 51 chromosomes have been counted1. Some trees are reported to bear some male flowers among the others3.

It belongs to the group of apples around the Siberian crab apple, from which its short, blunt sepals and pink petals distinguish it, and its leaves are leathery2.

Range and habitat

The Flora of China records it in thickets on slopes and by streams, from sea level to 1,200 m, in Anhui, Guizhou, Hubei, Jiangsu, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Yunnan and Zhejiang1; the IUCN Red List adds Chongqing, Fujian, Gansu and Hunan4. In 1980 a Sino-American expedition made nine collections resembling it or Malus hupehensis in the Shennongjia Forest District of western Hubei, which may suggest a wild population2. The IUCN Red List assessed it in 2014 as Data Deficient4.

Uses and history

It has long been grown as an ornamental in China and Japan2, for its purplish-red young shoots and leaves and its showy pink spring flowers1. The species was named from plants grown in Japan and brought to the United States by the American doctor George Rogers Hall, who lived in Japan from 1855 to 1861; the name commemorates him. One of his introductions, a semi-double form, was named Parkmannii after the historian Francis Parkman, in whose garden it was first grown2.

Where the sources disagree

  • Wild in China or not. The Flora of China gives it a range in China but notes Bean’s view that it is a Japanese species that does not occur in China, and calls for further study1. Trees and Shrubs Online describes continuing uncertainty over how many Chinese populations are truly wild2. Plants of the World Online treats it as native to China and Korea and introduced in Japan5. The 2022 revision of Malus lists it among the ornamental species rather than the wild ones6.
  • Ploidy. Hugh McAllister considers it a sexual diploid; the cultivar Parkmannii has been found to be triploid2; the Flora of China reports both diploids and triploids1.

Sources

  1. Malus halliana, Flora of China vol. 9, Gu Cuizhi and Stephen A. Spongberg, Flora of China, eFloras.org, 2003. Supports: the description (tree to 5 m, purple branchlets, leaves 3.5–8 cm, dark green often tinged purple, pendulous purple pedicels 2–4 cm, flowers 3–3.5 cm, petals often more than five, pink, pome purplish, 6–8 mm, flowering March–April and fruiting September–October, 2n = 34, 51); thickets on slopes or by streams, sea level to 1,200 m, in Anhui, Guizhou, Hubei, Jiangsu, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Yunnan and Zhejiang; ornamental use; Bean's view that it is a Japanese species not found in China, and the call for further study.
  2. Malus halliana, Julian Sutton and Nick Dunn, Trees and Shrubs Online (International Dendrology Society), 2021. Supports: part of the group around M. baccata, distinguished by short, blunt sepals and pink petals; leathery leaves; flowers often in March in Britain; named from cultivated plants brought to the United States by George Rogers Hall, who lived in Japan from 1855 to 1861, and commemorating him; long cultivated in China and Japan; uncertainty over truly wild Chinese populations; nine collections resembling M. halliana or M. hupehensis in the Shennongjia Forest District in 1980; McAllister's view that it is a sexual diploid, and the triploid 'Parkmannii'; 'Parkmannii' one of Hall's introductions, named after the historian Francis Parkman; the common name Hall crabapple.
  3. Malus halliana, Flora of North America vol. 9, Elizabeth E. Dickson, Flora of North America, eFloras.org. Supports: some trees reportedly andromonoecious, with some male flowers; introduced in North Carolina; larger flowers in Japanese cultivated plants; further study needed of its variation and boundaries.
  4. Malus halliana, The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016: e.T61855188A61855197, L. Rhodes and N. Maxted, 2016. Supports: Data Deficient, assessed 1 July 2014; native to China (Anhui, Chongqing, Fujian, Gansu, Guizhou, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Yunnan, Zhejiang).
  5. Malus halliana Koehne, Plants of the World Online, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Supports: accepted name and authority, published 1890; native range "C. & S. China to SW. Korea"; introduced in Japan, New Jersey and North Carolina.
  6. A revision of the genus Malus Mill. (Rosaceae), Jing-chao Li, Jian-quan Liu and Xin-fen Gao, European Journal of Taxonomy 853: 1–127, 2022. Supports: M. halliana named among the species grown as ornamentals; not among the 26 wild species recognised.