The World of Apples

Wild apples

Malus kansuensis (Batalin) C.K.Schneid.

Description

Malus kansuensis is a shrub or small tree, 3 to 5 m tall. Its leaves are ovate, 5–8 cm long, doubly toothed and often three-lobed. The flowers are small, 1.5–2 cm across, with white petals and usually three styles; the fruit is yellowish red, oval and 1–1.5 cm long, and the sepals fall before it ripens. It flowers in May and June and fruits in July and August. It has 34 chromosomes in its body cells1. Some plants are strongly armed with stout thorns, and the fruit can also be purple, with pale dots and a few stone cells2.

Range and habitat

It grows in mixed forest and scrub at 1,500–3,300 m in Gansu, Henan, Hubei, Shaanxi and Sichuan, and perhaps in Qinghai1; the IUCN Red List includes Qinghai and Ningxia3. The IUCN Red List assessed it in 2014 as Data Deficient3.

History and relationships

Batalin described it, as a Pyrus, in 1893, from specimens collected in Sichuan by Grigory Potanin and in Hubei by Augustine Henry. Its name refers to Kansu, an alternative spelling of Gansu, where it also grows. Ernest Wilson made the first certain introductions to cultivation, from western Hubei in 1907 and western Sichuan in 19102. It is very like Malus honanensis, which has more deeply lobed leaves and rounder fruit1. Its relationships are unclear, but several molecular studies group it, and M. honanensis, with Malus yunnanensis and its relatives2.

Where the sources disagree

  • The hairless form. The Flora of China keeps a hairless variety, var. calva1; Trees and Shrubs Online would rank it no higher than a form2; Plants of the World Online and the 2022 revision reduce it to synonymy4,5.

Sources

  1. Malus kansuensis, Flora of China vol. 9, Gu Cuizhi and Stephen A. Spongberg, Flora of China, eFloras.org, 2003. Supports: the description (shrubs or small trees 3–5 m, leaves 5–8 cm, doubly serrulate, often 3-lobed, flowers 1.5–2 cm, petals white, styles usually 3, pome yellowish red, ellipsoid or obovoid, 1–1.5 cm, sepals falling, flowering May–June and fruiting July–August, 2n = 34); mixed forests and scrub at 1,500–3,300 m in Gansu, Henan, Hubei, ?Qinghai, Shaanxi and Sichuan; similar to M. honanensis; two varieties, var. kansuensis and var. calva.
  2. Malus kansuensis, Julian Sutton and Nick Dunn, Trees and Shrubs Online (International Dendrology Society), 2021. Supports: sometimes strongly armed with stout thorns; fruit yellow to red or purple, with pale dots and few stone cells; belongs to an informal group of East Asian species with hawthorn-like flowers; relationships unclear, with several molecular studies grouping it and M. honanensis with M. yunnanensis; described as a Pyrus by Batalin in 1893 from specimens collected in Sichuan by Grigory Potanin and in Hubei by Augustine Henry; the epithet from Kansu, an alternative romanisation of Gansu; first certain introductions by Ernest Wilson from western Hubei (1907) and western Sichuan (1910); var. calva best treated as a form.
  3. Malus kansuensis, The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016: e.T50049597A50049600, L. Rhodes and N. Maxted, 2016. Supports: Data Deficient, assessed 1 May 2014; native to China (Gansu, Henan, Hubei, Ningxia, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Sichuan).
  4. Malus kansuensis (Batalin) C.K.Schneid., Plants of the World Online, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Supports: accepted name and authority, published 1906; basionym Pyrus kansuensis Batalin; native range "C. & S. China"; var. calva treated as a synonym.
  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. kansuensis accepted as one of 26 wild species; M. kansuensis f. calva Rehder reduced to synonymy.