Growth Form: Small tree to 25 feet tall; trunk diameter up to 1 foot; crown widely spreading.
Bark: Gray-brown to red-brown, with rather deep furrows between the scales.
Twigs: Moderately stout, reddish-brown, often spurlike, sometimes spiny, usually smooth at maturity; leaf scars alternate, narrow, curved, with 3 bundle traces.
Buds: Rounded, reddish, about ¼ inch in diameter, smooth or nearly so.
Leaves: Alternate, simple; blades oval, rounded to short-pointed at the tip, rounded or tapering to the base, up to 3 inches long, about half as broad, toothed along the edges and sometimes slightly lobed, yellow-green and smooth on the upper surface, paler on the lower surface; leafstalks stout, up to 2 inches long, smooth or hairy.
Flowers: Showy, up to 1½ inches across, on long stalks, usually 3 or more in a cluster, with 5 rounded, white or pinkish petals, appearing during May and June.
Fruit: Apples up to 1 inch across, yellow-green, edible.
Wood: Heavy, close-grained, reddish-brown.
Uses: Wood is used for tool handles; crab apples used in making jelly.
Habitat: Woods; edge of fields; edge of prairies.