Distribution. Missouri (Allenton, St. Louis County, and Campbell, Dunklin County); northern Kentucky (Fordsville, Ohio County); Tennessee, without locality; North Carolina (Biltmore, Buncombe County, near Highlands, Macon County, up to altitudes of 3500°, and Abbottsburg, Bladen County); Georgia (Dillard, Rabun County, near Augusta, Richmond County); Florida (River Junction, Gadsden County).
8. [Malus ioensis] Britt. Crab Apple.
Leaves elliptic to ovate or oblong-obovate, acute, acuminate or rounded at apex, cuneate or rounded at the narrow base, crenately serrate, and often slightly lobed with acute or rounded lobes, hoary-tomentose below and floccose-pubescent above when they unfold, and at maturity thick and firm, dark green, lustrous and glabrous above, pale yellow-green and tomentose or nearly glabrous below, 2½′—4′ long, 1′—1½′ wide, with a slender midrib and primary veins; turning yellow in the autumn before falling; petioles slender, hoary-tomentose in early spring, becoming pubescent or nearly glabrous, ¾′—1′ in length; leaves at the end of vigorous shoots broad-ovate to oblong-ovate, acute, rounded at the broad or narrow base, often deeply lobed, covered below through the season with floccose easily detached tomentum, often 4′ or 5′ long and 3′ or 4′ wide, with a thick midrib and primary veins, and stout hoary-tomentose petioles ¾′—1′ in length. Flowers 1½′—2′ in diameter, on villose pubescent pedicels 1′—1½′ long, in 3—6-flowered clusters; calyx covered with hoary tomentum, the lobes narrow, rather longer than the tube; petals obovate, gradually narrowed below into a long slender claw, rose color or white, about ½′ wide; stamens shorter than the petals; styles 5, united at base, covered below for a third of their length with long white hairs. Fruit on stout tomentose or villose stems 1′—1½′ long, depressed globose, with shallow basal and apical depressions, green or greenish yellow, ¾′—1′ high, and 1′—1¼′ wide.
A tree, 20°—30° high, with a trunk 12′—18′ in diameter, stout spreading branches forming a wide open head, and branchlets hoary-tomentose when they first appear, glabrous or slightly pubescent, bright red-brown and marked by occasional small pale lenticels in their first winter, the lateral branchlets usually spinescent. Winter-buds minute, obtuse, pubescent above the middle. Bark ⅓′ thick, covered with long narrow persistent red-brown scales.
Distribution. Southeastern Minnesota to Iowa, eastern Nebraska, and Missouri, and through southern Wisconsin and Illinois to Huntington County, Indiana. Passing into var. Palmeri Rehd., differing from the type in its smaller oblong more thinly pubescent leaves usually rounded at apex, those of the flowering branchlets crenately serrate and not lobed; a small tree rarely more than 15° high, with a slender stem, spiny zigzag branches and stout branchlets densely tomentose when they first appear, becoming glabrous or nearly glabrous and reddish or gray-brown at the end of their first season; the common form in Missouri, Arkansas and eastern Oklahoma. On the Edwards Plateau, in western Texas (Blanco, Kendall, and Kerr Counties) M. ioensis is represented by the var. texana Rehd., differing in its smaller and broader leaves only slightly or not at all lobed and densely villose through the season; usually an intricately branched shrub forming large dense thickets. A shrub from Campbell, Dunklin County, southeastern Missouri, with small leaves and flowers, a glabrescent calyx, and long slender flexible branches armed with numerous long straight spines is distinguished as var. spinosa Rehd. A variety with elliptic-ovate to oblong-ovate leaves rounded or broadly cuneate at base, nearly entire or crenately serrate, pubescent below at least on the veins, with densely villose petioles is distinguished as var. creniserrata Rehd.; a small tree with slender spineless branchlets villose while young; near Pineville, Rapides Parish, and Crowly, Arcadia Parish, western Louisiana. A variety with less deeply lobed glabrescent oblong-lanceolate leaves is distinguished as var. Bushii Rehd.; Williamsville, Wayne County, and Monteer, Shannon County, southern Missouri.
Malus ioensis var. plena Rehd., the Bechtel Crab, a form with large rose-colored double flowers is a favorite garden plant.
× Malus Soulardii Britt. with ovate, elliptic or obovate usually obtuse leaves, rugose and tomentose on the lower surface, and depressed-globose fruit 2′—2½′ in diameter, is believed to be a hybrid of Malus ioensis and Malus pumila.
9. [Malus fusca] Schn. Crab Apple.
Malus rivularis Roem.