Siberian Crab

Malus baccata (L.) Borkh.

["Crab", "Ornamental"]

Measured Phenotype

Brix: 18.4 °Bx

Each value is the highest-precedence :Assertion attached to this cultivar; full provenance (year, evidence type, confidence) is preserved in the graph.

A very small crab apple of about three-quarters of an inch diameter, with thin shining skin ranging from lemon-yellow on the shaded side to dark blood-red on exposed areas. The flesh is yellow, firm, crisp and juicy with a pleasant, lively sub-acid flavor, ripening in October. The tree grows fifteen to twenty feet high, is perfectly hardy, and forms a beautiful ornamental specimen on lawns or in shrubberies.

Flavor & Texture

subacidsweetlivelyfirmcrispjuicy

Best Uses

ornamentalfresh_eating

2 historical watercolors from the USDA Pomological Watercolor Collection (1886–1942) included in the gallery above. Public domain.

Lineage

Offspring

Briar Sweet Paul Imperial

Origin & History

Status: heritage

sub-acidpleasantlively

References

USDA-NPGS: PI 148421
Cited authority (Hogg 1851): H