Malus niedzwetzkyana

2017-02-16T02:22:52Z

Sminthopsis84: /* Etymology */ not exactly helpful and misspelled

{{italic title}}
{{taxobox
|name = Niedzwetzky's apple
|image = Malus-niedzwetzkyana.jpg|th
|image_caption = Illustration of ''Malus niedzwetzkyana'' from a 1921 botanical compendium
|regnum = [[Plant]]ae
|unranked_divisio = [[Angiosperms]]
|unranked_classis = [[Eudicots]]
|unranked_ordo = [[Rosids]]
|ordo = [[Rosales]]
|familia = [[Rosaceae]]
|genus = ''[[Malus]]''
|species = '''''M. niedzwetzkyana'''''
|binomial = ''Malus niedzwetzkyana''
|binomial_authority = [[Georg Dieck|Dieck]] ex [[Bernhard Adalbert Emil Koehne|Koehne]]
|}}
'''''Malus niedzwetzkyana''''', or '''Niedzwetzky's apple''', is treated as a distinct species by some botanists.<ref name="plantlist2"/> while others have sunk it as a [[synonym (biology)|synonym]] of ''[[Malus pumila]]'' <small>Miller</small>.<ref name="flora"/><ref name="gbif"/><ref name=GRIN>{{citation |url=http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/taxon.pl?23261 |title=USDA GRIN Taxonomy |accessdate=19 November 2015}}</ref> It is distinguished from most other apples by its red-fleshed fruit, red skin, and red flowers. The tree is found in [[China]], [[Afghanistan]], [[Kazakhstan]], [[Kyrgyzstan]], and [[Uzbekistan]]. It is rare, often growing as an isolated tree, and is endangered throughout its range by agricultural encroachment and logging operations.<ref name="flora"/> Only 111 specimens of the tree are known to survive in Kyrgyzstan. The conservation group Fauna & Flora International is working to save and restore the species in that country, and has put ''M. niedzwetzkyana'' on its endangered list, brought it under its Global Trees Campaign, and planted over 1000 saplings in area forests in 2010 and 2011<ref name="princess"/><ref name="ff"/>

The tree was introduced to the West c. 1890 by [[Georg Dieck]] at the Zöschen Arboretum, Germany, who grew it from seed sent by the Russian lawyer and amateur botanist [[Vladislav E. Niedzwiecki]] living in exile in [[Turkestan]]; Dieck later donated specimens to the [[Späth nursery]], which exported the tree to the USA c. 1896.<ref name=Hansen>Hansen, N. How to produce that $1000 premium apple, in Minnesota State Hort. Soc. (1900). ''Trees, fruits & flowers of Minnesota''. Vol. 28. 470-1. Forgotten Books, London, 2013. ISBN 9781153197953</ref>

==Description==
The tree is winter-hardy and drought-resistant, growing {{convert|5|-|8|m|ft|abbr=on}} tall in the wild (<5 m under cultivation), with a globular crown and very dark purplish-brown bark.

New shoots are dark purple, and leaves range from purplish when new to dark green when mature. In the spring it puts out intensely magenta-rose flowers that are up to 4 inches in diameter. The skin of the fruit is deep red to purple-red (sometimes with a bluish, waxy bloom) and the flesh ranges from light to bright red, with dark reddish-brown seeds.<ref name="wild"/>

The fruit is edible and not very tart, with dry, somewhat chewy, flesh.<ref name="nash"/> In the [[Kashgar]] region of China near the Kyrgyzstan and [[Tajikistan]] borders, it is known as 'kisil alma': 'red apple'.<ref name="nash"/>

==Cultivation==
''Malus niedzwetzkyana'' has been used to breed some modern red-leaved, red-flowered, and red-fruited apples and crabapples. It is believed to be the ancestor of [[Surprise (apple)|Surprise]], a pink-fleshed apple that was brought to the United States by German immigrants around 1840 and was later used by the horticulturist [[Albert Etter]] to breed some 30 pink- and red-fleshed varieties, the best-known of which is [[Pink Pearl (apple)|Pink Pearl]].<ref name="nursery"/> Another horticulturist, [[Niels Ebbesen Hansen]], encountered ''M. niedzwetzkyana'' in the [[Ili valley]], where he also met Niedzwetzky, in what was then the Russian region of Turkestan (but now [[Kazakhstan]]) during his 1897 expedition. Hansen began two breeding programs based on this unusual fruit, one aimed at developing a cold-hardy cooking and eating apple, and the other aimed at developing ornamental crabapples. His efforts resulted in the Almata apple and the Hopa crabapple, among other varieties. Some of these apples, as well as ''M. niedzwetzkyana'' itself, are being used for small-scale commercial production of rosé apple ciders.<ref name="rose"/>

===Cultivars===
* 'Red Vein'.<ref name=Moffet>Moffet, L. (1931). ''Plumfield Nurseries Wholesale Trade List, Spring 1931.''. Plumfield Nurseries, Fremont, Nebraska.</ref>

==See also==
*[[Applecrab]]

==References==
{{reflist|refs=
<ref name="plantlist2">[http://www.theplantlist.org/tpl1.1/record/rjp-533 The Plant List (version 2)]</ref>

<ref name="flora">''Malus pumila'' in [http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=2&taxon_id=200010913 "Flora of China"]</ref>

<ref name="wild">Dzhangaliev, A.D., T.N. Salova and P.M. Turekhanova. [http://media.wiley.com/product_data/excerpt/81/04712196/0471219681-1.pdf "The Wild Fruit and Nut Plants of Kazakhstan"]</ref>

<ref name="nash">Nash, George V. [http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/4512331 "Malus niedzwetzkyana"]. In ''Addisonia: Colored Illustrations and Popular Descriptions of Plants'', vol. 6. The New York Botanical Garden (Addison Brown Fund), 1921, pp. 23–24.</ref>

<ref name="gbif">[http://www.gbif.org/species/6712241 Global Biodiversity Information Facility website]</ref>

<ref name="nursery">[http://www.greenmantlenursery.com/fruit/etter-apples.htm "The Ettersburg Apple Legacies"], Greenmantle Nursery website</ref>

<ref name="princess">[http://archaeologybyprincess.wordpress.com/tag/malus-niedzwetzkyana/ "Garden of Eden's Orchards in Danger"]</ref>

<ref name="ff">[http://www.fauna-flora.org/explore/kyrgyzstan/ "Conserving Threatened Apple and Pear Species in Kyrgyzstan"]</ref>

<ref name="rose">[http://mobile.drinks.seriouseats.com/2013/08/rose-cider-how-it-gets-pink-what-to-try-uncle-johns-lukeluk-traditions.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter "Rosé Ciders to Try This Summer"]</ref>

}}

{{crabapple}}
{{Apples}}

[[Category:Malus|niedzwetzkyana]]
[[Category:Crabapples]]
[[Category:Flora of the Caucasus]]
[[Category:Flora of Central Asia]]
[[Category:Flora of China]]
[[Category:Flora of Kazakhstan]]
[[Category:Flora of temperate Asia]]
[[Category:Natural cultivars]]

Kazakhstan Encyclopedia - User contributions [en]

Malus niedzwetzkyana