Caucasus Apple
(Malus orientalis)
Species Data
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Rosales
Family: Rosaceae
Scientific Name: Malus orientalis
IUCN Red List status:Data Deficient
Description
This species is native to a range of countries including Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran, Turkey, and the north Caucasus region of the Russian Federation. It occurs at elevations that reach up to 2,000 metres above sea level. Alongside Caucasus Apple, another of its common names includes Eastern Crabapple and has been consumed by people for millennia. It has contributed slightly to the gene pool of domesticated apples.
Behaviour
It can grow up to 10 metres in height and flowers from April to May and then fruits between August and October. It tends to grow in small groups or as individual trees and produces large yellow fruit.
Habitat and range
It occurs at elevations that reach up to 2,000 metres above sea level. It thrives with high levels of light and can tolerate both dry and mildly saline soils. It is mostly found in broadleaf and coniferous-broadleaf mountain forests, or on forest edges, in glades, and along riverbanks.
Unfortunately, its habitat in the mixed forests of the Caucasus is threatened with poor management, illegal tree felling, uncontrolled timber export, and degraded habitat from overgrazing. The tree also faces the threat of hybridisation with the cultivated apple Malus domestica which could threaten the genetic integrity of M. orientalis.
