Malus Cultivars D-F

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Credits

Julian Sutton (species), Nick Dunn (cultivars) (2021)

Recommended citation
Sutton, J. & Dunn, N. (2021), 'Malus Cultivars D-F' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/malus/malus-cultivars-d-f/). Accessed 2024-03-28.

Genus

Glossary

hybrid
Plant originating from the cross-fertilisation of genetically distinct individuals (e.g. two species or two subspecies).

References

There are no active references in this article.

Credits

Julian Sutton (species), Nick Dunn (cultivars) (2021)

Recommended citation
Sutton, J. & Dunn, N. (2021), 'Malus Cultivars D-F' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/malus/malus-cultivars-d-f/). Accessed 2024-03-28.

We aim to include the most important contemporary ornamental cultivars in Europe and North America, a few likely to become so, and a selection of significant older varieties. Orchard apples are excluded. Where a cultivar can confidently be attributed to a species or hybrid nothospecies, we duplicate the description there, but these cultivar pages include everything.


'Dartmouth'

Growth Rate/Size: Large (>6 m)
Form/shape/habit: Broadly upright to rounded
Foliage: Dark green
Flower colour: White from pink buds
Flower form: Single
Fruit size: Large (>3 cm)
Fruit shape: Elongated
Fruit colour: Crimson
Disease resistance/susceptibility: Susceptible to scab.
Raiser/collector: Unknown, New Hampshire, USA
Date of introduction: Before 1883
General notes: Much better known in Europe than in North America, despite its origin. Often recommended for jelly.


'Diable Rouge'

Growth Rate / Size: Medium (<6 m)
Form/shape/habit: Rounded, open
Foliage: Small, purple, pointed
Flower colour: Pink
Flower size: Small (<3 cm)
Flower form: Single
Flower season: Late
Fruit size: Very small <1cm
Fruit shape: Round
Fruit colour: Bright red, glossy, darkening with age
Fruit season: Mid
Disease resistance/susceptibility: Low susceptibility
Parentage/origin: Open-pollinated seedling from M. transitoria, the male parent probably ‘Liset’ or ‘Courtarou’
Raiser/collector: J.-P. Hennebelle, Boubers sur Canche, France
Date of introduction: 2000
General notes: This pretty tree is profuse in flower and fruit, with attractive dark red pointed leaves. The fruit are borne in large bunches with long stalks. They turn from bright to dark red before dropping. ‘Those who were well acquainted with Jean-Pierre Hennebelle will recognize in this name the mischief in the man’ (Willery 2014, translated).


'Directeur Moerlands'

Synonyms / alternative names
Malus 'Profusion Improved'

Growth Rate/Size: Medium (<6 m)
Form/shape/habit: Upright, spreading
Foliage: Large, purple, later emerging leaves deeply lobed
Flower colour: Deep pink
Flower form: Single
Fruit size: Small (<2 cm)
Fruit shape: Round
Fruit colour: Dark purple
Fruit season: Mid
Disease resistance/susceptibility: Resistant
Date of introduction: Before 2000
General notes: Marketed in the UK as a more disease resistant alternative to M. ‘Profusion’, under which name it is sometimes seen in the Dutch and Belgian trade: ‘Directeur Moerlands’ has more deeply lobed leaves.


'Dolgo'

Synonyms / alternative names
Malus × robusta 'Dolgo'
Malus PINK GLOW

Growth Rate/Size: Small (<4 m)
Form/shape/habit: Rounded, dense
Foliage: Green
Flower colour: White
Flower size: Medium (<4 cm)
Flower form: Single
Flower season: Mid
Fruit size: Large (>3 cm)
Fruit shape: Oblong/oval
Fruit colour: Bright red
Fruit season: Early
Disease resistance/susceptibility: Low susceptibility
Parentage/origin: Raised from M. × robusta seed collected in 1897 at the Imperial Botanic Gardens, St Petersburg, Russia
Raiser/collector: N.E. Hansen, South Dakota Agricultural Experiment Station
Date of introduction: 1917
General notes: M. ‘Dolgo’ produces abundant flowers, and attractive fruits which make a lovely amber coloured jelly. It fruits at the same time as M. ‘John Downie’, offering a similar tree in many respects, but with better disease resistance.


'Donald Wyman'

Growth Rate / Size: Large (>6 m)
Form/shape/habit: Broadly spreading
Foliage: Green
Flower colour: White, flushed pink
Flower size: Medium (<4 cm)
Flower form: Single
Flower season: Mid
Fruit size: Small (<2 cm)
Fruit shape: Round
Fruit colour: Bright red
Fruit season: Late, persistent
Disease resistance/susceptibility: Resistant
Parentage/origin: Spontaneous seedling
Raiser/collector: Donald Wyman, Arnold Arboretum, MA, USA
Date of introduction: 1950
General notes: Both flower and fruit are a spectacular sight on this vigorous, healthy tree. The fruit are very persistent and can still remain after a mild winter when the next flowers emerge. The tree needs room to be appreciated, but will never disappoint.


'Dvp Obel'

Synonyms / alternative names
Malus RED OBELISK

Growth Rate/Size: Medium (<6 m)
Form/shape/habit: Narrowly upright, spreading when laden with fruit
Foliage: Large
Flower colour: Light pink
Flower size: Large (>4 cm)
Flower form: Single
Flower season: Mid
Fruit size: Medium (<3 cm)
Fruit shape: Elongated
Fruit colour: Bright red
Fruit season: Mid
Disease resistance/susceptibility: Resistant
Raiser/collector: Department of Plant Genetics & Breeding (DvP), Melle, Belgium
Date of introduction: About 2008, through Best Select nursery group, Belgium
General notes: A strikingly attractive tree in flower and fruit. The upright habit is a useful feature, and only the very heavy fruit crops will arch the branches temporarily in early autumn. There is a tendency for fruit to deteriorate on the tree.


'Echtermeyer'

Synonyms / alternative names
Malus ‘Oekonomierat Echtermeyer’
Malus × gloriosa ‘Echtermeyer’

Growth Rate / Size: Small (<4 m)
Form/shape/habit: Weeping to widely spreading
Foliage: Small, green
Flower colour: Rose-crimson
Flower size: Medium (<4 cm)
Flower form: Single
Flower season: Mid
Fruit size: Very small (<1 cm)
Fruit shape: Round
Fruit colour: Reddish-purple
Fruit season: Early
Disease resistance/susceptibility: High susceptibility
Parentage/origin: M. ‘Exzellenz Theil’ × M. sieversii f. niedzwetzkyana
Raiser/collector: Unknown
Date of introduction: 1914 by the Späth nursery, Berlin
General notes: One of few weeping crab apples with a graceful habit, but prone to scab and mildew. Very much superseded by M. ‘Louisa’, of similar weeping habit but a much healthier constitution.


'Eleyi'

Synonyms / alternative names
Malus × purpurea 'Eleyi'
Malus × eleyi (Bean) Hesse

Growth Rate / Size: Medium (<6 m)
Form/shape/habit: Rounded, open
Foliage: Dark purple fading to green, flushed burgundy
Flower colour: Crimson
Flower size: Medium (<4 cm)
Flower form: Single
Flower season: Early
Fruit size: Small (<2 cm)
Fruit shape: Round
Fruit colour: Crimson-purple
Fruit season: Mid
Disease resistance/susceptibility: High susceptibility
Parentage/origin: Originally claimed as M. sieversii f. niedzwetzskyana × M. spectabilis; Rehder’s inference that the pollen parent was more likely to have been M. toringo or one of its hybrids has been widely accepted (Bean 1981). This cultivar’s conventional placement in M. × purpurea seems speculative.
Raiser/collector: Charles Eley, East Bergholt, Suffolk, UK
Date of introduction: Pre-1920
General notes: At the time of introduction this was an improvement on M. × purpurea clones, both for its fruit quality and the darker, more attractive leaf. Not so commonly available these days and can be quite susceptible to scab in some seasons.


'Elk River'

Synonyms / alternative names
Malus coronaria 'Elk River'

Growth Rate / Size: Small (<4 m)
Form/shape/habit: Rounded, open
Foliage: Lobed, good autumn colours
Flower colour: Pink
Flower size: Large (>4 cm)
Flower form: Single
Flower season: Late
Fruit size: Large (>3 cm)
Fruit shape: Round, slightly ribbed
Fruit colour: Bright green
Fruit season: Mid
Disease resistance/susceptibility: Resistant
Parentage/origin: Wild M. coronaria seedling near Elk River, MN, USA
Raiser/collector: A.W. Keays
Date of introduction: 1930 by Niels Hansen, South Dakota Agricultural Experiment Station
General notes: Most selections of M. coronaria are excellent ornamental trees, not least because of their lovely rich yellow and golden autumn leaf colours. This variety is particularly attractive for its persistent large bright green fruit (like miniature ‘Granny Smith’ apples) and large single pink flowers. Also excellent for making golden crab apple jelly.
(Description duplicated under Malus coronaria ‘Elk River’)


'Evelyn'

Synonyms / alternative names
Malus × denboerii Krüssm.

Growth Rate/Size: Large (>6 m)
Foliage: Dark purple, lobed, good orange autumn colour
Flower colour: Red-pink, from darker buds
Flower size: Medium (<4 cm)
Flower form: Single
Flower season: Mid
Fruit size: Large (>3 cm)
Fruit colour: Greenish-yellow flushed red
Disease resistance/susceptibility: Highly susceptible
Parentage/origin: Open-pollinated hybrid of M. ioensis, probably with M. × purpurea
Raiser/collector: Arie den Boer, Waterworks Arboretum, Des Moines, IA, USA
Date of introduction: Selected 1939, named 1953 for the raiser’s daughter-in-law
General notes: A beautiful but disease-prone cultivar, with fragrant flowers and very acid fruits, suitable for jelly. M. × denboerii is a binomial unfortunately applied by Krüssmann (1986) to an M. ioensis hybrid (suggested to be with M. × purpurea), with purple-tinted leaves and fruits. Widely repeated in taxonomic listings but ignored entirely by Fiala (1994), we have been unable to trace a living plant under this name. Jacobson (1996) equates it with M. ‘Evelyn’, which seems as close to a sensible resolution as anyone is now likely to get.


'Evereste'

Synonyms / alternative names
Malus PERPETU®

Awards
AGM

Growth Rate / Size: Medium (<6 m)
Form/shape/habit: Rounded, open
Foliage: Green
Flower colour: White from pink buds
Flower size: Large (>4 cm)
Flower form: Single
Flower season: Mid
Fruit size: Small (<2 cm)
Fruit shape: Round, slightly ribbed
Fruit colour: Bicolour red/yellow, striped
Fruit season: Mid
Disease resistance/susceptibility: Low susceptibility
Raiser/collector: INRA, Angers, France
Date of introduction: 1978
General notes: A very good all-round crab apple with profuse flower and fruit, which makes excellent crab apple jelly. Also used as a pollinator in commercial orchards.


'Fimbriata'

Common Names
Fringe Petal Crabapple

Synonyms / alternative names
Malus ioensis 'Fimbriata'

Growth Rate / Size: Small (<4 m)
Form/shape/habit: Broadly spreading
Foliage: Lobed, good autumn colour
Flower colour: Pink
Flower size: Large (>4 cm)
Flower form: Densely double, with 25–34 petals, often fringed
Flower season: Late
Fruit size: Medium (<3 cm)
Fruit shape: Round, ribbed, often with brown calyx, can be misshapen
Fruit colour: Green
Fruit season: Mid
Disease resistance/susceptibility: Resistant
Parentage/origin: M. ioensis seedling
Raiser/collector: Bernard Slavin, Rochester, NY, USA
Date of introduction: 1931
General notes: One of several fine Prairie Crab cultivars, rare and to be admired. The large, shell pink, densely double flowers are stunning. One of the last to flower, often in early June. Long flowering, with little or no fertile pollen.
(Description duplicated under Malus ioensis ‘Fimbriata’)


'Freja'PBR

Synonyms / alternative names
Malus toringo 'Freja'

Growth Rate / Size: Medium (<6 m)
Form/shape/habit: Broadly spreading
Foliage: Small, lobed, purple
Flower colour: Pink
Flower size: Small (<3 cm)
Flower form: Single
Flower season: Mid
Fruit size: Very small (<1 cm)
Fruit shape: Oblong/oval
Fruit colour: Bicolour red/yellow
Fruit season: Mid
Disease resistance/susceptibility: Resistant
Parentage/origin: Probably a hybrid seedling of M. toringo
Raiser/collector: Ole Boensdorff Plantescole, Bjaeverskov, Denmark
Date of introduction: 1999
General notes: A sister seedling to M. ‘Scarlett’ and similar in most of its features. The bright showy pink flowers, healthy purple leaves, and clean persistent fruit lasting into November make this a fine garden tree for all seasons.


'Fridlund'

Synonyms / alternative names
Malus ROYAL GEM™

Growth Rate/Size: Small (<4 m)
Form/shape/habit: Rounded, compact, often top grafted
Foliage: Red when young, becoming dark green
Flower colour: Reddish-pink
Flower form: Single
Fruit size: Small to very small (about 1 cm)
Fruit colour: Dark red
Fruit season: Persistent
Disease resistance/susceptibility: Highly resistant
Raiser/collector: Paul Fridlund, Washington State University, USA
Date of introduction: Before 2009
General notes: Larger leaved than many dwarfs, giving a dense appearance.