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Apple
Apple tree (Malus domestica)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Division:	Magnoliophyta
Class:	Magnoliopsida
Order:	Rosales
Family:	Rosaceae
Subfamily:	Maloideae
Genus:	Malus
Species:	M. domestica
Binomial name
Malus domestica Borkh.

The apple comes from a tree and is its pomaceous fruit, of the species Malus domestica in the rose family Rosaceae. It is one of the most widely cultivated tree fruits. It is a small deciduous tree reaching 5-12 m tall, with a broad, often densely twiggy crown. The leaves are alternately arranged, simple oval with an acute tip and serrated margin, slightly downy below, 5-12 cm long and 3-6 cm broad on a 2-5 cm petiole. The flowers are produced in spring with the leaves, white, usually tinged pink at first, 2.5-3.5 cm diameter, with five petals. The fruit matures in autumn, and is typically 5-9 cm diameter (rarely up to 15 cm). The centre of the fruit contains five carpels arranged star-like, each carpel containing one or two (rarely three) seeds.

Origin of name

The word "apple" comes from the Old English word æppel, which in turn has recognisable cognates in a number of the northern branches of the Indo-European language family. The prevailing theory is that "apple" may be one of the most ancient Indo-European words (*abl-) to come down to English in a recognisable form. The scientific name malus, on the other hand, comes from the Latin word for apple, and ultimately from the archaic Greek mālon (mēlon in later dialects). The legendary placename Avalon is thought to come from a Celtic evolution of the same root as the English "apple"; the name of the town of Avellino, near Naples in Italy is likewise thought to come from the same root via the Italic languages. Linnaeus assigned the apple to the genus Pyrus, along with pears and quinces. Philip Miller subsequently separated the apple into its own genus, a division repeatedly ratified over many years.

Botanical information

The wild ancestor of Malus domestica is Malus sieversii. It has no common name in English, but is known in Kazakhstan, where it is native, as 'alma'; in fact, the region where it is thought to originate is called Alma-Ata, or 'father of the apples'. This tree is still found wild in the mountains of Central Asia in southern Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Xinjiang, China.

For many years, there was a debate about whether M. domestica evolved from chance hybridisation among various wild species. Recent DNA analysis by Barrie Juniper, Emeritus Fellow in the Department of Plant Sciences at Oxford University and others, has indicated, however, that the hybridisation theory is probably false. Instead, it appears that a single species still growing in the Ili Valley on the northern slopes of the Tien Shan mountains at the border of northwest China and the former Soviet Republic of Kazakhstan is the progenitor of the apples we eat today. Leaves taken from trees in this area were analyzed for DNA composition, which showed them all to belong to the species M. sieversii, with some genetic sequences common to M. domestica.

Some individual M. sieversii, recently planted by the US government at a research facility, resist many diseases and pests that affect domestic apples, and are the subject of continuing research to develop new disease-resistant apples.

Other species that were previously thought to have made contributions to the genome of the domestic apples are Malus baccata and Malus sylvestris, but there is no hard evidence for this in older apple cultivars. These and other Malus species have been used in some recent breeding programmes to develop apples suitable for growing in climates unsuitable for M. domestica, mainly for increased cold tolerance.

The apple tree was perhaps the earliest tree to be cultivated, and apples have remained an important food in all cooler climates. To a greater degree than other tree fruit, except possibly citrus, apples store for months while still retaining much of their nutritive value. Winter apples, picked in late autumn and stored just above freezing, have been an important food in Asia and Europe for millennia, as well as in Argentina and in the United States since the arrival of Europeans.

Apple cultivars

See List of apple cultivars for a listing.

There are more than 7,500 known cultivars of apples. Different cultivars are available for temperate and subtropical climates. Reputedly the world's biggest collection of apple cultivars is housed at the National Fruit Collection in England. Apples do not flower in tropical climates because they have a chilling requirement.

Commercially popular apple cultivars are soft but crisp. Other desired qualities in modern commercial apple breeding are a colourful skin, absence of russeting, ease of shipping, lengthy storage ability, high yields, disease resistance, typical 'Red Delicious' apple shape, long stem (to allow pesticides to penetrate the top of the fruit), and popular flavour.

Old cultivars are often oddly shaped, russeted, and have a variety of textures and colours. Many of them have excellent flavour (often better than most modern cultivars), but may have other problems which make them commercially unviable, such as low yield, liability to disease, or poor tolerance for storage or transport. A few old cultivars are still produced on a large scale, but many have been kept alive by home gardeners and farmers that sell directly to local markets. Many unusual and locally important cultivars with their own unique taste and appearance are out there to discover; apple conservation campaigns have sprung up around the world to preserve such local cultivars from extinction. In the United Kingdom old cultivars such as Cox's Orange Pippin and Egremont Russett are still commercially important even though by modern standards they are low yielding and disease prone.

Although most cultivars are bred for eating fresh (dessert apples), some are cultivated specifically for cooking (cooking apples) or producing cider. Cider apples are typically too tart and astringent to eat fresh, but they give the beverage a rich flavour that dessert apples cannot.

Modern apples are, as a rule, sweeter than older cultivars. Most North Americans and Europeans favour sweet, subacid apples, but tart apples have a strong minority following. Extremely sweet apples with barely any acid flavour are popular in Asia and especially India.

Tastes in apples vary from one person to another and change continually over time. As an example, the U.S. state of Washington made its reputation for apple growing on Red Delicious. In recent years, many apple connoisseurs have come to regard the Red Delicious as inferior to cultivars such as Fuji and Gala due to its merely mild flavour and insufficiently firm texture.

Growing apples

Apple breeding

Like most perennial fruits, apples are ordinarily propagated asexually by grafting. Seedling apples are different from their parents, sometimes radically. Most new apple cultivars originate as seedlings, which either arise by chance or are bred by deliberately crossing cultivars with promising characteristics. The words 'seedling', 'pippin', and 'kernel' in the name of an apple cultivar suggest that it originated as a seedling. Apples can also form bud sports (mutations on a single branch). Some bud sports turn out to be improved strains of the parent cultivar. Some differ sufficiently from the parent tree to be considered new cultivars..

Some breeders have crossed ordinary apples with crabapples or unusually hardy apples in order to produce hardier cultivars. For example, the Excelsior Experiment Station of the University of Minnesota has, since the 1930s, introduced a steady progression of important hardy apples that are widely grown, both commercially and by backyard orchardists, throughout Minnesota and Wisconsin. Its most important introductions have included 'Haralson' (which is the most widely cultivated apple in Minnesota), 'Wealthy', 'Honeygold', and 'Honeycrisp'.

Pollination

Apples are self-incompatible and must be cross-pollinated to develop fruit. Pollination management is an important component of apple culture. Before planting, it is important to arrange for pollenizers, cultivars of apple or crab apple that provide plentiful, viable and compatible pollen. Orchard blocks may alternate rows of compatible cultivars, or may have periodic crab apple trees, or grafted-on limbs of crab apple. Some cultivars produce very little pollen, or the pollen is sterile, so these are not good pollenizers. Quality nurseries have pollenizer compatibility lists.

Growers with old orchard blocks of single cultivars sometimes provide bouquets of crab apple blossoms in drums or pails in the orchard for pollenizers. Home growers with a single tree, and no other cultivars in the neighbourhood can do the same on a smaller scale.

During the flowering each season, apple growers usually provide pollinators to carry the pollen. Honeybee hives are most commonly used, and arrangements may be made with a commercial beekeeper who supplies hives for a fee. Orchard mason bees are also used as supplemental pollinators in commercial orchards. Home growers may find these more acceptable in suburban locations because they do not sting. Some wild bees such as carpenter bees and other solitary bees may help. Bumble bee queens are sometimes present in orchards, but not usually in enough quantity to be significant pollinators.

Symptoms of inadequate pollination are excessive fruit drop (when marble sized), small and misshapen apples, slowness to ripen, and low seed count. Well pollinated apples are the best quality, and will have 7 to 10 seeds. Apples having fewer than 3 seeds will usually not mature and will drop from the trees in the early summer. Inadequate pollination can result from either a lack of pollinators or pollenizers, or from poor pollinating weather at flowering time. It generally requires multiple bee visits to deliver sufficient grains of pollen to accomplish complete pollination.

A common problem is a late frost that destroys the delicate outer structures of the flower. It is best to plant apples on a slope for air drainage, but not on a south facing slope (in the northern hemisphere) as this will encourage early flowering and increase susceptibility to frost. If the frost is not too severe, the tree can be wetted with water spray before the morning sun hits the flowers, and it may save them. Frost damage can be evaluated 24 hours after the frost. If the pistil has turned black, the flower is ruined and will not produce fruit.

Growing apples near a body of water can give an advantage by slowing spring warm up, which retards flowering until frost is less likely. In some areas of the USA, such as the eastern shore of Lake Michigan, the southern shore of Lake Ontario, and around some smaller lakes, this cooling effect of water, combined with good, well-drained soils, has made apple growing concentrations possible. However, the cool, humid spring weather in such locations can also increase problems with fungal diseases, notably apple scab; many of the most important apple-growing regions (e.g. northern China, central Turkey, and eastern Washington in the USA) have climates more like the species' native region well away from the sea or any lakes, with cold winters leading to a short, but warm spring with low risk of frost.

Home growers may not have a body of water to help, but can utilise north slopes or other geographical features to retard spring flowering. Apples (or any fruit) planted on a south facing slope in the northern hemisphere (or north facing in the southern hemisphere), will flower early and be particularly vulnerable to spring frost.

Pollination groups

There are four to seven pollination groups in apples depending on climate :

• Group A – Early flowering, May 1 to 3 in England (Gravenstein, Red Astrachan)
• Group B – May 4 to 7 (Idared, McIntosh)
• Group C – Mid-season flowering, May 8 to 11 (Granny Smith, Cox's Orange Pippin)
• Group D – Mid/Late season flowering, May 12 to 15 (Golden Delicious, Calville Blanc d'Hiver).
• Group E – Late flowering, May 16 to 18 (Braeburn, Reinette d'Orléans)
• Group F – May 19 to 23 (Suntan)
• Group G – May 24 to 28 (Court Pendu Plat)

One cultivar can be pollinized by a compatible cultivar from the same group or close (A with A or A with B but not A with C or D). Late groups are better to avoid frost in cold areas.

Thinning

Apples are prone to biennial bearing. If the fruit is not thinned when the tree carries a large crop, it may produce very little flower the following year. Good thinning helps even out the cycle, so that a reasonable crop can be grown every year.

Commercial orchardists practice chemical thinning, which is not practical for home fruit. Apples bear in groups of five (or more rarely six) blossoms. The first blossom to open is called the king bloom. It will produce the best possible apple of the five. If it sets, it tends to suppress setting of the other blossoms, which, if they set anyway, should be removed. The next three blossoms tend to bloom and set simultaneously, therefore there is no dominance. All but one of these should be thinned for best quality. If the final blossom is the only one that sets, the crop will not be as good, but it will help reduce excessive woody growth (suckering) that usually happens when there is no crop.

Maturation and harvest

Cultivars vary in their yield and the ultimate size of the tree, even when grown on the same rootstock. Some cultivars, if left unpruned, will grow very large, which allows them to bear a great deal more fruit, but makes harvest very difficult. Mature trees typically bear 40-200 kg of apples each year, though productivity can be close to zero in poor years. Apples are harvested using three-point ladders that are designed to fit amongst the branches. Dwarf trees will bear about 10-80 kg of fruit per year.

Pests and diseases

The trees are susceptible to a number of fungal and bacterial diseases and insect pests. Nearly all commercial orchards pursue an aggressive program of chemical sprays to maintain high fruit quality, tree health, and high yields. A trend in orchard management is the use of Integrated Pest Management (IPM), which reduces needless spraying when pests are not present, or more likely, are being controlled by natural predators.

Spraying for insect pests must never be done during flowering because it kills pollinators. Nor should bee-attractive plants be allowed to establish in the orchard floor if insecticides are used. White clover is a component of many grass seed mixes, and many bees are poisoned by insecticides while visiting the flowers on the orchard floor.

Among the most serious disease problems are fireblight, a bacterial disease; and Gymnosporangium rust, apple scab, and black spot, three fungal diseases.

The plum curculio is the most serious insect pest. Others include Apple maggot and codling moth. For other Lepidoptera larvae which feed on apple trees, see List of Lepidoptera which feed on Malus.

Young apple trees are also prone to mammal pests like mice and deer, which feed on the soft bark of the trees, especially in winter. Growers usually sheath juvenile trees with wire mesh to protect them.

Apples are difficult to grow organically, though a few orchards have done so with commercial success, using disease-resistant cultivars and the very best cultural controls. The latest tool in the organic repertoire is to spray a light coating of kaolin clay, which forms a physical barrier to some pests, and also helps prevent apple sun scald.

Commerce and uses

At least 55 million tonnes of apples were grown worldwide in 2005, with a value of about $10 billion. China produced about two-fifth of this total. United States is the second leading producer, with more than 7.5% of the world production. Turkey, France, Italy and Iran are among the leading apple exporters.

In the United States, more than 60% of all the apples sold commercially are grown in Washington state. Imported apples from New Zealand and other more temperate areas are competing with US production and increasing each year.

Apples can be canned, juiced, and optionally fermented to produce apple juice, cider, vinegar, and pectin. Distilled apple cider produces the spirits applejack and Calvados. Apple wine can also be made. They make a popular lunchbox fruit as well.

Apples are an important ingredient in many winter desserts, for example apple pie, apple crumble, apple crisp and apple cake. They are often eaten baked or stewed, and they can also be dried and eaten or re-constituted (soaked in water, alcohol or some other liquid) for later use. Puréed apples are generally known as apple sauce. Apples are also made into apple butter and apple jelly. They are also used cooked in meat dishes.

• In the UK, a toffee apple is a traditional confection made by coating an apple in hot toffee and allowing it to cool. Similar treats in the US are candy apples (coated in a hard shell of crystallised sugar syrup), and caramel apples, coated with cooled caramel.
• Apples are eaten with honey at the Jewish New Year of Rosh Hashanah to symbolise a sweet new year.
• Farms with apple orchards may open them to the public, so consumers may themselves pick the apples they will buy.

Health benefits

An old proverb attests to the health benefits of the fruit: "An apple a day keeps the doctor away." Research suggests that apples may reduce the risk of colon cancer, prostate cancer and lung cancer. Like many fruits, apples contain Vitamin C as well as a host of other antioxidant compounds, which may reduce the risk of cancer by preventing DNA damage. The fibre content, while less than in most other fruits, helps regulate bowel movements and may thus reduce the risk of colon cancer. They may also help with heart disease, weight loss and controlling cholesterol, as they do not have any cholesterol, have fibre (which reduces cholesterol by preventing reabsorption), and are bulky for their caloric content like most fruits and vegetables.

A group of chemicals in apples could protect the brain from the type of damage that triggers such neurodegenerative diseases as Alzheimer's and Parkinsonism. Chang Y. 'Cy' Lee of the Cornell University found that the apple phenolics, which are naturally occurring antioxidants found in fresh apples, can protect nerve cells from neurotoxicity induced by oxidative stress. The researchers used red delicious apples from New York State to provide the extracts to study the effects of phytochemicals. Lee said that all apples are high in the critical phytonutrients and that the amount of phenolic compounds in the apple flesh and in the skin vary from year to year, season to season and from growing region to growing region (November/December 2004 issue of the Journal of Food Science). The predominant phenolic phytochemicals in apples are quercetin, epicatechin, and procyanidin B2 (PMID 14558772).

The seeds are mildly poisonous, containing a small amount of amygdalin, a cyanogenic glycoside, but a large amount would need to be chewed to have any toxic effect.

Pesticide contamination is linked to an increasing number of diseases, and they are mostly found on the outside of fruits and vegetables. Washing or peeling before eating may reduce pesticide intake but peeling will also reduce the intake of the beneficial nutrients.

Apple consumption can help remove trapped food and clean between the teeth, but the malic acid contained within the fruit is also capable of eroding tooth enamel over time, and through excess consumption.

Cultural aspects

For apple symbolism in religion, mythology and folktales, see : Apple symbolism.

Apples as symbols

Apples appear in many religious traditions, often as a mystical and forbidden fruit. One of the problems identifying apples in religion, mythology and folktales is that the word "apple" was used as a generic term for all fruit, other than berries but including nuts, as late as the 17th C. CE.

Legends, folklore, and traditions

• Since 1990, Apple Day has been held across the UK and beyond, on October 21
• Swiss folklore holds that William Tell courageously shot an apple from his son's head with his crossbow, defying a tyrannical ruler and bringing freedom to his people.
• Irish folklore claims that if an apple is peeled into one continuous ribbon and thrown behind a woman's shoulder, it will land in the shape of the future husband's initials.
• Danish folklore says that apples wither around adulterers.
• Apples are said to increase a woman's chances of conception as well as remove birthmarks when rubbed on the skin.
• According to a popular legend, Isaac Newton, upon witnessing an apple fall from its tree, was inspired to conclude that a similar 'universal gravitation' attracted the moon toward the Earth as well (this legend is discussed in more detail in the article on Isaac Newton).
• In the European fairy tale Snow White, the princess is killed, or sunk into a kind of coma with the appearance of death, by choking on a poisoned apple given to her by her stepmother. Later, the princess is jostled into coughing up the piece, miraculously returning her to life.
• In Arthurian legend, the mythical isle of Avalon's name is believed to mean 'isle of apples'.
• In some places, bobbing for apples is a traditional Halloween activity.
• In the United States, Denmark and Sweden, an apple (polished) is a traditional gift for a teacher. This stemmed from the fact that teachers during the 16th to 18th centuries were poorly paid, so parents would compensate the teacher by providing food. As apples were a very common crop, teachers would often be given baskets of apples by students. As wages increased, the quantity of apples was toned down to a single fruit.
• The Apple Wassail is a traditional form of wassailing practiced in cider orchards of South West England during the winter. The ceremony is said to 'bless' the apple trees to produce a good crop in the forthcoming season.
• In Ancient Greece, a man throwing an apple to a woman was a proposal of marriage. Catching it meant she accepted .
• New York City is often called "The Big Apple." The origins of the name are unclear. In keeping with this, Manhattan, Kansas, refers to itself as "The Little Apple" in its promotional literature.

Apple facts

This article contains a list of miscellaneous information. Please relocate any relevant information into other sections or articles. (June 2007)

• The ancient Kazakh city of Almaty, 'Father of Apples' (Turkic language alma, apple, + ata, father), owes its name to the forests of wild apples (Malus sieversii) found naturally in the area.
• The apple blossom is the state flower of Arkansas and Michigan.
• The Norwegian municipality of Leikanger has apples in its coat-of-arms.
• The name of the Russian party Yabloko means 'apple'. Its logo represents an apple in the constructivist style.
• Apple Corps (including Apple Records) and Apple Inc. have also adopted the apple as logos for their companies.
• The 'fruit-bearing tree' referred to by Tacitus in his description of Norse runic divination may have been the apple.
• Johnny Appleseed was an American pioneer orchardist; he earned his name by planting apple trees across large swaths of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois.
• One of the youngest apple varieties is Aurora Golden Gala (2003), a sweet yellow Canadian apple; while one of the oldest apples in the United States may be the Roxbury Russet (1640).
• There is a small amount of cyanide in apple seeds
• Cary Fowler, executive secretary of the Global Crop Diversity Trust, said in a statement:

"At the end of the 1800s, 7,000 named apple varieties were grown in the United States. Now, 6,800 of those are as extinct as the dinosaurs."

Apples as food

Different cultivars of apples have a distinct different taste, and this can be separated into two separate factors of flavour and texture.

Storage

Most varieties of apple can be stored for approximately two weeks, when kept at the coolest part of the refrigerator. Some types of apple, including the Granny Smith and Fuji, have an even longer shelf life.

See also

• Apple picking
• Apple seed
• Cooking apple
• Cider apple
• Fruit tree propagation
• Fruit tree pollination
• Fruit tree forms
• Herefordshire Pomona
• List of apple cultivars
• Nutritional information about the apple
• Pruning fruit trees

References

1. United States Food and Drug Administration (2024). "Daily Value on the Nutrition and Supplement Facts Labels". FDA. Archived from the original on 2024-03-27. Retrieved 2024-03-28.
2. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine; Health and Medicine Division; Food and Nutrition Board; Committee to Review the Dietary Reference Intakes for Sodium and Potassium (2019). "Chapter 4: Potassium: Dietary Reference Intakes for Adequacy". In Oria, Maria; Harrison, Meghan; Stallings, Virginia A. (eds.). Dietary Reference Intakes for Sodium and Potassium. The National Academies Collection: Reports funded by National Institutes of Health. Washington, DC: National Academies Press (US). pp. 120–121. doi:10.17226/25353. ISBN 978-0-309-48834-1. PMID 30844154. Retrieved 2024-12-05.
3. Information about cancer, from Stanford comprehensive cancer center.
4. "Raw Food Toxins". Retrieved 2006-09-16. {{cite web}}: Text "RawVeg.info" ignored (help)
5. "Friends of the Earth: Press Releases: Toddlers Exposed to Daily Pesticide Threat". Retrieved 2006-09-16.
6. History and customs of Halloween
7. "AAFC Online — Newsroom — News Releases". Retrieved 2006-09-16.
8. "Beardsley's Cider Mill". Retrieved 2006-09-16.
9. "Work on biodiversity 'doomsday vault' begins in the Arctic". Retrieved 2006-09-16.
10. Food Science Australia (February, 2005). "Food Science Australia Fact Sheet: Refrigerated storage of perishable foods". Retrieved 2007-05-25. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)

External links

• Apple Association Guide with some years and places of cultivar origins
• Apple Facts from the UK's Institute of Food Research

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• Articles with trivia sections from June 2007
• Apples
• Fruit