Apple Tree

Malus species

non-native

Apple trees are in the rose family along with many other types of familiar edible fruits, including pears, peaches, plums, apricots, raspberries, strawberries, and others. Apple flowers (blossoms) have five petals and bloom in the spring. The fruit matures in the late summer or early autumn. The original wild ancestor of the tree producing the apples most commonly sold in grocery stores came from the mountains of Central Asia. China is the leading apple producing country by a wide margin, producing about half of the world's total and about ten times more than the next leading producer. Apples have an important place in human culture. Most people know about the Bible story of Eve giving Adam an apple, resulting in them being banished from the Garden of Eden. However, the book of Genesis does not ever mention apples, and the confusion is probably based on a heteronym, which is a word that can be pronounced in two different ways (such as bass, dove, etc.) The word malum with a long a means apple. With a short a, malum means evil or bad. The forbidden fruit was on the tree of knowledge of good and evil, not good and apples.

Identification Tools

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