The World of Apples

Wild apples

Malus honanensis Rehder

Honan crabapple

Description

Malus honanensis is a shrub or small tree, 5 to 7 m tall. Its leaves are broadly ovate, 4–7 cm long, doubly toothed and cut into three to six lobes. The flowers are small, about 1.5 cm across, with pinkish-white petals and three or four styles. The fruit is yellowish red, round and about 8 mm across, with the sepals still attached. It flowers in May and fruits in August and September. It has 34 chromosomes in its body cells1. In gardens it is a rather bushy plant that may colour well in autumn2.

Range and habitat

It grows in thickets in valleys and on slopes at 800–2,600 m in Gansu, Hebei, Henan, Hubei, Shaanxi and Shanxi1; the IUCN Red List adds Hunan and Sichuan3. The IUCN Red List assessed it in 2014 as Data Deficient3.

History and relationships

Alfred Rehder described it in 1920 from specimens collected at three places in Henan by Joseph Hers, a railway engineer based in Zhengzhou who collected plants for the Arnold Arboretum; its name refers to Honan, an alternative spelling of Henan2. It is most like Malus kansuensis, which has less deeply lobed leaves and oval fruit whose sepals fall1. Several molecular studies group it with M. kansuensis and with Malus yunnanensis and its relatives, and Rushforth has suggested that it arose as a hybrid between them2. It is rare in cultivation2. Plants of the World Online and the 2022 revision of the genus both accept it as a species4,5.

Where the sources disagree

  • Qinghai. Plants of the World Online extends its range west to Qinghai4; neither the Flora of China nor the IUCN Red List lists Qinghai1,3.

Sources

  1. Malus honanensis, Flora of China vol. 9, Gu Cuizhi and Stephen A. Spongberg, Flora of China, eFloras.org, 2003. Supports: the description (shrubs or small trees 5–7 m, leaves 4–7 cm, doubly serrate, 3–6-lobed, flowers about 1.5 cm, petals pinkish white, styles 3 or 4, pome yellowish red, about 8 mm, sepals persistent, flowering May and fruiting August–September, 2n = 34); thickets in valleys and on slopes at 800–2,600 m in Gansu, Hebei, Henan, Hubei, Shaanxi and Shanxi; most similar to M. kansuensis.
  2. Malus honanensis, Julian Sutton and Nick Dunn, Trees and Shrubs Online (International Dendrology Society), 2021. Supports: low-growing and bushy, with good autumn colour; differs from M. yunnanensis in its 3 or 4 styles and from M. kansuensis in its more deeply lobed leaves and rounder fruit with persistent sepals; described by Rehder in 1920 from specimens collected at three localities in Henan by Joseph Hers, a railway engineer in Zhengzhou who collected for the Arnold Arboretum; the epithet from Honan, an alternative romanisation of Henan; diploid; grouped by molecular studies with M. kansuensis and the M. yunnanensis group; Rushforth's suggestion of a hybrid origin between them; rare in cultivation; the common name Honan crabapple.
  3. Malus honanensis, The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016: e.T50049427A50049430, L. Rhodes and N. Maxted, 2016. Supports: Data Deficient, assessed 1 May 2014; native to China (Gansu, Hebei, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Sichuan).
  4. Malus honanensis Rehder, Plants of the World Online, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Supports: accepted name and authority, published 1920; native range "Qinghai to C. & S. China".
  5. 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. honanensis accepted as one of 26 wild species.