Apple Blossom
{Malus (Pyrus)
coronaria}
Adopted in 1901.
The apple blossom, Malus (Pyrus)
coronaria, was adopted as the
Arkansas State Flower by the
Thirty-third General Assembly of 1901.
Apple blossoms have pink and white
petals and green leaves. At one time
Arkansas was a major apple-producing
state. The town of Lincoln in Washington
County hosts the annual Arkansas Apple
Festival.
The apple blossom was chosen because at that time Arkansas was known as
the apple state and sometimes called
"The Land of the Big Red Apple." At one
time Benton County was the chief
apple-producing county in the U.S. Today
Arkansas ranks 32ndin apple production.
Synonyms/other Latin names: =
Malus coronaria var. coronaria (L.)
Mill. (NoR)
Common name(s): sweet
crabapple
This is a well-known tree, growing
from 20 to 40 feet high, with rigid,
crooked, spreading branches, and a
rough, blackish bark. The apple tree is
a native of Europe, naturalized in this
country, and flowers from April to June.
There are, probably, nearly 1000
varieties cultivated in the United
States, and all of which are said to be
derived from the Wild crab (Pyrus
coronaria, Linné). From the fruit cider
is manufactured, and both the fruit and
its cider are much used for domestic and
medicinal purposes.
- Lifespan: Perennial
- Height: 9 m
- Leaves: The leaves are
from 2 to 3 inches long, about 2/3
as wide, ovate, or oblong-ovate,
serrate, acute, or short-acuminate,
pubescent above, tomentose beneath,
and on petioles from 1/2 to 1 inch
in length.
- Flower Color: The flowers
are pink, sometimes fading to white,
and very fragrant. The attractive
flowers resemble the common apple
bloom. Flowers scent the May
landscape. Fruit is greenish and
ripens in September.
- Flower Size: The flowers
are large (4 cm) fragrant, expanding
with the leaves, of pale-rose color,
and borne in subumbellate corymbs.
The calyx-tube is urn-shaped, with
limb 5-cleft; the pedicels and calyx
villose-tomentose. Petals 5,
roundish, or obovate, with short
claws. Stamens numerous; styles 5,
united, and villose at base.
- Bloom Season: April-May
- Fruit: 2.5-3 cm in
diameter; like a small apple;
yellow-green, maturing in late
summer
- Conditions: Moist soils
in openings and borders of forests
Taxonomic Hierarchy
|
Kingdom |
Plantae -- Plants |
Subkingdom |
Tracheobionta -- Vascular
plants |
Superdivision |
Spermatophyta -- Seed
plants |
Division |
Magnoliophyta --
Flowering plants |
Class |
Magnoliopsida --
Dicotyledons |
Subclass |
Rosidae |
Order |
Rosales |
Family |
Rosaceae -- Rose family |
Genus |
Malus P. Mill. -- apple
P |
Species |
Malus coronaria (L.) P.
Mill. -- sweet crabapple P |
|