Malus asiatica Nakai

This species is a famous fruit tree in N and NE China. During its long cultivation, many cultivars have been bred, the fruit of which differ in shape, color, size, and ripening period.

Trees small, 4–6 m tall. Branchlets purplish brown when old, terete, robust, densely pubescent when young, glabrous when old; buds grayish red, ovoid, initially densely pubescent, glabrescent. Stipules caducous, lanceolate, small, 3–5 mm, membranous, margin glandular serrate when young, apex acuminate; petiole 1.5–5 cm, puberulous; leaf blade ovate or elliptic, 5–11 × 4–5.5 cm, abaxially densely puberulous, adaxially initially puberulous, glabrescent, base rounded or broadly cuneate, margin serrulate, apex acute or acuminate. Corymb at apices of branchlets, umbel-like, 3–5 cm in diam., 4–7(–10)-flowered; bracts caducous, lanceolate, membranous, pubescent, apex acuminate. Pedicel 1.5–2 cm, densely pubescent. Flowers 3–4 cm in diam. Hypanthium densely pubescent abaxially. Sepals triangular-lanceolate, 4–5 mm, slightly longer than hypanthium, both surfaces densely pubescent, margin entire, apex acuminate. Petals pinkish, obovate or oblong-obovate, 0.8–1.3 cm, base shortly clawed, apex rounded. Stamens 17–20, unequal, shorter than petals. Ovary 4- or 5-loculed, with 2 ovules per locule; styles 4(or 5), longer than stamens, tomentose basally. Pome yellow or red, ovoid or subglobose, 4–5 cm in diam., impressed at base; fruiting pedicel 1.5–2.5 cm, pubescent; sepals persistent. Fl. Apr–May, fr. Aug–Sep. 2n = 34*, 51*, 68*.

Gansu, Guizhou, Hebei, Henan, Hubei, Jiangsu, Liaoning, Nei Mongol, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanxi, Sichuan, Xinjiang, Yunnan, Zhejiang.

Open slopes, sandy soils of plains; sea level to 2800 m.

Malus asiatica var. argutisserrata Hu & Chen; M. domestica Borkhausen var. asiatica (Nakai) V. V. Ponomarenko; M. domestica var. rinki (Koidzumi) H. Ohle; M. dulcissima Koidzumi var. asiatica Koidzumi; M. dulcissima var. rinki (Koidzumi) Koidzumi; M. matsumurae Koidzumi; M. prunifolia Borkhausen var. rinki (Koidzumi) Rehder; M. pumila Miller var. rinki Koidzumi; Pyrus matsumurae (Koidzumi) Cardot; P. ringo Wenzig.

Malus asiatica also known as the Chinese pearleaf crabapple is a species in the genus Malus, in the family Rosaceae. It is native to China and Korea.