PNW Native
Ranges from South Alaska to Northern California on the Western side of the Cascades (1) Tall shrubs/small trees grow up to 12 m / 40 ft tall. Leaves are 1.5 – 3 in / 5 – 12 cm long, with slight lobes and fine teethed edges, deciduous. Flowers are pink or white, up to 1 in across, and in large clusters. Apples are covered in sharp thornlike spur twigs and 0.5 in long. (DM)
Pacific crabapple is the only species of apple native to western North America. Pacific crabapple prefers to grow on moist sites by streams, estuaries, woods with wet soil, and beach edges. Fruits stay on crabapple trees through fall and often into winter, causing them to be a key food source for numerous bird and mammal species.
Crabapples were an important food source picked in late summer and fall by Northwest Coast People, preserved by cooking slightly then storing in boxes underwater in watertight baskets or bentwood cedar boxes. They were eaten with various animal greases. These preserved crabapples were traded widely along the coast and the interior. Digging sticks, pegs, snowshoe frames, mallets, tool handles, fishhooks, and bows were all constructed from the tough crabapple wood. Bark infusions/decoctions: cough and cold remedy. Crabapple stands were valuable enough to be pruned, tended, maintained, and owned by important families and chiefs amongst Northwest tribes and were treated somewhat as private property. Bark was partially harvested from live trees. The Haida used Pacific crabapple ritually for girls going through puberty and women in mourning. (Turner)
Crabapples are common ornamentals with various cultivars, preferable for planting in urban and suburban environments and widely graftable. They also have value in restoration plantings. The pectin-rich fruit can be used in jellies and jams. (1)
[1] CRABAPPLES (APPLES) Malus species (2002) Plant Fact Sheet. USDA NRCS Northeast Plant Materials Program. https://plants.usda.gov/factsheet/pdf/fs_malus.pdf
