Small, mostly thornless trees to about 7 m tall. Young shoots downy. Leaves elliptic to ovate, to about 10 cm long, rounded at the base, woolly-hairy below, the margins with saw teeth. Flowers mostly 4-5 cm wide, white to pink; spring. Flower stalks and calyx hairy. Fruits sunken at the tip and base. Syn. M. pumila Mill.

Garden origin.

This is the domestic apple, treated by many authors as M. pumila; it appears to be a hybrid involving several Eurasian species. Edible apples date back to classical times and before. Cultivars have been selected in Europe, the Middle East and, in more recent times, Asia. The major growing areas in Australia are Vic, Tas and WA. Naturalised widely in Vic from stray pips, also on the N Tablelands and S and C coasts of NSW.

Popular commercial cultivars include 'Australian Fuji', A 'Big Time' PVJ 6(1)7, 'Cox's Orange Pippin', 'Five Crowns', 'Gala', A 'Galaxy' PVJ 9(2)60, 'Golden Delicious', 'Granny Smith', 'Gravenstein', 'John Downie', 'Jonagored', 'Jonathan', 'Mutsu', 'Pink Lady', A 'Pink Rose' PVJ 10(3)52, A 'Rafzybin' PVJ 11(1)62, 'Red Delicious', A 'Red Elsta' PVJ 11(2)52, 'Red Fuji', 'Red Granny Smith', 'Red Gravenstein', 'Richer Red Delicious', 'Rome Beauty', 'Starking Red Delicious', 'Starkrimson Red Delicious', 'Sun Lady', 'Veitch's Scarlet' and A 'Williams Pride' PVJ 11(3)51.

It is thought that up to 700 apple cultivars were available in Australia over 100 years ago but relatively few of these remain. Old cultivars are becoming more popular for their flavours although their appearance does not match the supermarket varieties which have appealing shapes and colours, having been picked unripe, waxed to obtain a gloss and often ripened artificially. Some tasty old cultivars include 'Buncome', 'Cox's Orange', 'Coral Crab', 'De La Place', 'Devonshire Quarrendron', 'Huon Belle', 'Laxton's Superb', 'Maiden's Blush' and 'Rhode Island Greening'. In Australia half the total apple production comes from Vic (outer Melbourne and the Goulburn Valley) and NSW (Orange and Batlow).

Source: Spencer, R. (2002). Rosaceae. In: Spencer, R.. Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 3. Flowering plants. Dicotyledons. Part 2. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.