Maçaner, pomera borda (Catalan) | Maceira brava, macieira brava (Galician) | Maceira-brava, maceira-silvestre, maçanzeira (Portuguese) | Manzano silvestre (Spanish) | Pommier Sauvage (French)
Its scientific name literally means forest apple. It is capable of reaching a height of 12 m, with a smooth trunk at its base and a yellowish-green bark later turning into a brownish-greyish that slowly begin cracking over time. With sometimes thorny and thick branches, it is characterised by an irregular crown. They grow within oak, beech, chestnut and holm oak forests, from sea level to an altitude of 1800 m.
The leaves are simple, alternate and with finely serrated edges, with oval or elliptical shapes and ending in a point. When budding, they are slightly hairy at first, but later at maturity they lose it. The flowers have 5 free petals, budding in clusters that can be white or pink in colour.
The fruit is a small apple (pome), up to 6 cms long, greenish-yellow and within the wilder specimens they are generally covered in insect bites. They have an acidic bitter taste and a slightly sweeter one if well ripened.
Apple wood is a good fuel, burning hot and slow without producing much flame. With a pinkish tint, its wood Crab apple is also used for carving small objects, its wood characterised by a pinkish tone.
Originally believed to be an important ancestor of the domestic apple tree (malus domestica), today we know that actually they derive from the crab apple species Malus sieversii of Central Asia.
