Malus × dawsoniana
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Credits
Julian Sutton (species), Nick Dunn (cultivars) (2021)
Recommended citation
Sutton, J. & Dunn, N. (2021), 'Malus × dawsoniana' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.
Genus
Common Names
- Dawson Crabapple
Other taxa in genus
- Malus × adstringens
- Malus angustifolia
- Malus × arnoldiana
- Malus asiatica
- Malus × astracanica
- Malus × atrosanguinea
- Malus baccata
- Malus bhutanica
- Malus × brevipes
- Malus chitralensis
- Malus coronaria
- Malus crescimannoi
- Malus Cultivars A-B
- Malus Cultivars C
- Malus Cultivars D-F
- Malus Cultivars G-I
- Malus Cultivars J-K
- Malus Cultivars L-M
- Malus Cultivars N-Q
- Malus Cultivars R
- Malus Cultivars S
- Malus Cultivars T-Z
- Malus dasyphylla
- Malus domestica
- Malus doumeri
- Malus florentina
- Malus × floribunda
- Malus fusca
- Malus × gloriosa
- Malus halliana
- Malus × hartwigii
- Malus × heterophylla
- Malus honanensis
- Malus hupehensis
- Malus ioensis
- Malus kansuensis
- Malus kirghisorum
- Malus komarovii
- Malus × magdeburgensis
- Malus × micromalus
- Malus × moerlandsii
- Malus montana
- Malus ombrophila
- Malus orientalis
- Malus × platycarpa
- Malus praecox
- Malus prattii
- Malus prunifolia
- Malus × purpurea
- Malus × robusta
- Malus rockii
- Malus Rootstock Cultivars
- Malus Rosybloom Cultivars
- Malus × scheideckeri
- Malus sieversii
- Malus sikkimensis
- Malus × soulardii
- Malus spectabilis
- Malus spontanea
- Malus × sublobata
- Malus sylvestris
- Malus toringo
- Malus transitoria
- Malus trilobata
- Malus tschonoskii
- Malus turkmenorum
- Malus vernalis
- Malus yunnanensis
- Malus × zumi
A natural hybrid between the North American M. fusca and the introduced M. domestica. It forms an upright, densely twiggy tree with a rounded crown. Leaves 4–9 cm long, elliptic to oblong, unlobed; excellent autumn colour. Flowers white, 2.5–3.5 cm wide. Fruit yellowish green to red, 4 × 2.5 cm, elliptic to oblong. (Fiala 1994; Grimshaw & Bayton 2009).
Distribution Canada British Columbia (occasional) United States Oregon (common in Willamette Valley), Washington
USDA Hardiness Zone 4-8
RHS Hardiness Rating H6
Conservation status Not evaluated (NE)
Despite praise for its autumnal colour and its attractive elongated fruits (Fiala 1994), Malus × dawsoniana is not commonly grown, and is most likely to be found in specialist collections. It was introduced to cultivation from Oregon in 1881, at the Arnold Arboretum; the specific epithet commemorates Jackson T. Dawson, a propagator at the Arnold (Jacobson 1996).
Recorded from both Kew and Wisley, an unhappy-looking specimen in the Hillier Gardens, measured at 7.8 m × 66 cm in 2017, would not encourage its wider cultivation (The Tree Register 2020; Grimshaw & Bayton 2009). A further negative feature is its exceptional susceptibility to apple proliferation disease, caused by a phytoplasma infection (Morvan & Castelain 1975). Even in North America it is rare in cultivation and generally confined to the largest crabapple collections (Arnold Arboretum 2020; Morton Arboretum 2020).