Caucasian apple

Photo: Łukasz Szczurowski — CC BY-SA 3.0 · source

Survives zone 4 through 7

Harvest calendar

Best planted in early spring after your last frost, or in fall before the ground freezes, depending on your climate.

One of the wild progenitor species behind the cultivated apple, alongside M. sieversii — recent genetic work has found its signature in Caucasus and Iranian apple varieties. Still rare outside botanic collections despite that pedigree.

Hardiness

Zone 4–7

Habit

Tree

Edible part

Fruit

Ripens

Aug–Oct

Mature size

Small tree to 10 m, non-spiny branches

Light

Full sun

Soil pH

6.0–7.5 (neutral to mildly alkaline), tolerant of dry or mildly saline soil

Environment

Temperate

Native range

Turkey through the Caucasus (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Russia) to the Hyrcanian forests of northern Iran, to 2,000 m elevation.

Status

Wild

Years to fruit

4–6 yrs

Growth speed

Moderate

Spacing

600 cm (236 in) apart — about 36 m² (388 sq ft) per plant

Leaf shape

Variable in shape, 3–8 cm by 1.5–3.5 cm, nearly hairless above, white-woolly beneath

Root system

Deep and drought-tough on its own roots — part of why it persists on dry Caucasian and Iranian hillsides, and why it is of interest as a rootstock and breeding parent for drought and salt tolerance. A grafted tree carries the stock's roots instead.

Fruit description

Globose, 2–4 cm across, green to yellow, quality variable between individual trees

Propagation

Seed for the wild species — stratify over winter, and expect variable seedlings, since the tree is self-incompatible and every seed is a cross. Grafting to fix a selected form.

Pollination

Insect-pollinated; self-incompatible like the rest of the genus, so needs a second, genetically distinct apple or crabapple nearby.

The edible parts listed above are a starting point, not a field guide. Identify a plant with certainty — ideally against a local authority — before eating any part of it, and read the full disclaimer. Spotted something wrong? Report it.