Species
+

Malus sylvestris Mill.

Crab Apple, Crabapple (EN), European Crab Apple, European crab apple

Climate known 74 photographs
Add one to my plants Sow seed

Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Malus sylvestris, the European crab apple, also known as the European wild apple or simply the crab apple, is a species of the genus Malus. Its scientific name means "forest apple", reflecting its habitat. It is native to western Eurasia.

Text from Wikipedia, “Malus sylvestris”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Malus

Malus is a genus of about 32–57 species of small deciduous trees or shrubs in the rose family Rosaceae. It includes the domesticated orchard apple, crabapples, and wild apples.

Text from Wikipedia, “Malus”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Rosaceae
Described by
Mill.
Native to
Denmark, Finland, Great Britain +32
Wild records
755 in range· 524 open

At a glance

Warmest month
21°C
Jul, mean day; nights 13 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
827mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Oct 82 mm (CHELSA)
Light
3–35DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Rain rule: no season, 70% of the rain takes 8 months (June to January in the northern hemisphere). Habitat rain 827 mm a year, wettest October at 82 mm, driest February at 51 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 3 to 35 mol/m²/day. Cold floor -12.0 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Crataegus grata Salisb.; Malus acerba Mérat; Malus acerba var. barcinonensis Sennen; Malus acerta Mérat; Malus aprilovii Dimitrov and 45 more.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: no season, 70% of the rain takes 8 months (June to January in the northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads no season: 70% of the year's rain (604 mm of 827 mm) takes 8 months, June to January. Mean temperature moves 16.6 °C between the warmest and coldest month. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: December to July.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 827 mm a year, wettest October at 82 mm, driest February at 51 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

827 mm a year at the habitat, 604 mm of it June to January. Wettest month October at 82 mm, driest February at 51 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 593 mm to 1489 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 3 to 35 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 3 to 35 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 1, the highest 90th-percentile month 39).

CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Warmth and air Cold floor -12.0 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is -12.0 °C, the absolute minimum -24.1 °C, about 83 frost nights a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 24.9 °C. Monthly means: coldest night -2.1 °C in February (across the envelope cells -7.2 °C to 1.7 °C), warmest day 20.7 °C in July (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: -12.0 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 59 to 68% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 2 °C in Jan to 21 °C in Jul; mean night from -2 °C in Feb to 13 °C in Jul. The cold quarter, Jan to Mar, is the three months around the coldest night. 827 mm of rain a year, most in Oct. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 655 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was -24.1 °C and the 99th-percentile day 24.9 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.-30°-20°-10°10°20°30°frost24.9° 99th-percentile day (undated)-24.1° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0255075100125150mm rainDLI 3–35RH 59–68 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 655 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C2 / -2–73 / -1–76 / 3–1011 / 8–1415 / 12–1918 / 15–2221 / 18–2420 / 18–2416 / 14–1912 / 9–157 / 3–103 / -1–7
Night °C-2 / -7–2-2 / -7–2-0 / -4–33 / 1–57 / 6–911 / 9–1313 / 11–1513 / 11–1510 / 8–127 / 4–93 / -2–5-1 / -6–3
Rain mm69 / 39–12551 / 33–10358 / 33–11352 / 33–9962 / 41–11673 / 50–11677 / 54–12278 / 56–13173 / 54–13282 / 53–14979 / 52–14473 / 48–145
DLI4 / 2–99 / 7–1516 / 14–2326 / 24–3034 / 31–3635 / 32–3934 / 31–3928 / 25–3218 / 16–2410 / 8–165 / 3–103 / 1–7
RH %68 / 63–7166 / 62–6963 / 60–6560 / 58–6359 / 56–6260 / 57–6360 / 58–6461 / 58–6463 / 60–6565 / 63–6867 / 64–7068 / 64–72

Each figure is the median across the 655 grid cells holding the 752 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 637:3834 (58.125, 11.725). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -24.1 °C, 1st-percentile night -12.0 °C, 99th-percentile day 24.9 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 655 distinct grid cells holding the 752 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 637:3834 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 58.00_11.875, lapse-corrected -14 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 40 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeDenmark, Finland, Great Britain, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, Austria, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Hungary, Netherlands, Poland, Switzerland, Corse, France, Portugal, Sardegna, Spain, Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Romania, Sicilia, Turkey-in-Europe, Yugoslavia, Baltic States, Central European Russia, East European Russia, North European Russia, South European Russia, Northwest European Russia, Ukraine, Turkey· introduced: Queensland, Argentina South
Kew's description“tree” · “temperate”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker59.702, 10.562 · in the densest population, 293 records (39% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 755 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 524 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 1 km away. 9 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 3 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 4° block of the 755 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Malus sylvestrisMalus sylvestrisMalus sylvestrisMalus sylvestrisMalus sylvestrisMalus sylvestrisMalus sylvestrisMalus sylvestris

Photographs: (c) Henry Miller, some rights reserved (CC BY) (3); no rights reserved · CC0 (5).

Photographs: iNaturalist and GBIF media did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Malus sylvestris, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Rapid Estimates of Relative Water Content
Richard Smart, Gail E. Bingham (1974) · PLANT PHYSIOLOGY
1-Methylcyclopropene Inhibits Apple Ripening
Xuetong Fan, Sylvia M. Blankenship, James P. Mattheis (1999) · Journal of the American Society for Horticultural Science
Water Use of Kiwifruit Vines and Apple Trees by the Heat-Pulse Technique
Steve Green, Brent Clothier (1988) · Journal of Experimental Botany
Methionine Metabolism in Apple Tissue
Douglas O. Adams, Shang Fa Yang (1977) · PLANT PHYSIOLOGY
Ultrastructural Changes in the Cell Walls of Ripening Apple and Pear Fruit
Ruth Ben‐Arie, Naomi Kislev, Chaim Frenkel (1979) · PLANT PHYSIOLOGY
A Reflective, Processed-Kaolin Particle Film Affects Fruit Temperature, Radiation Reflection, and Solar Injury in Apple
D. Michael Glenn, Ernesto Prado, Amnon Erez, James R. McFerson (2002) · Journal of the American Society for Horticultural Science
Harvest Maturity, Storage Temperature, and 1-MCP Application Frequency Alter Firmness Retention and Chlorophyll Fluorescence of `Redchief Delicious' Apples
Nazir Ahmad Mir, Erin Curell, Najma Khan, Melissa J. Whitaker (2001) · Journal of the American Society for Horticultural Science
Characterization of highly polymerized procyanidins in cider apple (Malus sylvestris var. kermerrien) skin and pulp
Sylvain Guyot, Thierry Doco, Jean‐Marc Souquet, Michel Moutounet (1997) · Phytochemistry
Particle Film Application Influences Apple Leaf Physiology, Fruit Yield, and Fruit Quality
D. Michael Glenn, Gary J. Puterka, S. R. Drake, Thomas R. Unruh (2001) · Journal of the American Society for Horticultural Science
Apple Fruit Growth and Maturity are Affected by Early Season Temperatures
I. J. Warrington, T.A. Fulton, E.A. Halligan, H.N. de Silva (1999) · Journal of the American Society for Horticultural Science
The effects of fruit juices and fruits on the absorption of iron from a rice meal
Daynia Ballot, Roy D. Baynes, T. H. Bothwell, M. Gillooly (1987) · British Journal Of Nutrition

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

Other Malus 8 in the reference

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence search API
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive)
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media did not answercarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: api.gbif.org not asked: offline re-derivation
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 21 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.