What types of crabapple flowers are there? The latest complete variety guide

Crabapple flowers are outstanding subjects in the works of many poets and scholars, and are known as “the immortal among flowers” and “the imperial consort of flowers.” The types of crabapple flowers mainly include four kinds: Hall crabapple, Midget crabapple, Taiwan crabapple, and Chinese quince crabapple. So what are the differences among the different types of crabapple flowers?

Hall crabapple

Hall crabapple is a small tree, with purple young branches and ovate or elliptical leaves. It blooms between March and April, and the flowers are semi-double or double.

1. The double Hall crabapple flower is nearly double and brightly red.

2. The white-flowered Hall crabapple has smaller flowers and is slightly nearly white.

Midget crabapple

Midget crabapple is also called small-fruited crabapple. It is said to have been named because it grew in Xifu during the Jin Dynasty. It is a small tree with long elliptical leaves and umbel-like racemes. Before its flowers open, the buds are bright red, like dots of rouge, and after opening they gradually turn pink. The flowers are relatively large, in clusters of 4 to 7 facing upward, and the pear-shaped fruit is spherical and red. It is native to Liaoning, Hebei, Shanxi and other provinces in China. Whether planted alone, in rows, or in clumps, the Midget crabapple is very beautiful, and it is best planted by the waterside and in a corner of a small courtyard. The Midget crabapples in the Imperial Garden of the Palace Museum and the Summer Palace in Beijing have long been famous.

Taiwan crabapple

Taiwan crabapple, also called wrinkled-skinned Chinese quince, is a deciduous shrub 1 to 2 m tall, with ovate or elliptical leaves. Its flowers are borne in clusters of 3 to 5, with short thick pedicels or nearly no pedicels, hence the name Taiwan crabapple. The flowers are pink, vermilion, or white, opening before the leaves or at the same time as the leaves. The flowering period is from March to May, and the fruit is ovate to spherical, yellow or yellow-green, and fragrant. It is produced in southern North China, eastern Northwest China, and Central China, and is now cultivated throughout the country. The flowers of Taiwan crabapple are in clusters of three to five, “the most elegant color of spring,” and its yellow fruit is fragrant and large and can be used as medicine.

Taiwan crabapple is a fine ornamental flowering and fruiting shrub, suitable for clump planting in courtyard corners, at lawn edges, around tree groups, and beside pools and streams. It can also be densely planted as a flowering hedge and can be made into stump bonsai.

Chinese quince crabapple

Chinese quince crabapple belongs to the rose family, genus Chaenomeles. It is a deciduous small tree, often with thorns; leaves are simple and alternate, with large stipules; flowers are solitary or clustered, often opening before the leaves; there are 5 sepals, colored; stamens are numerous; stamens 20 or numerous; the ovary is inferior, 5-locular, with numerous ovules; the pear-shaped fruit is fleshy and large.

Chinese quince crabapple grows on mountain slopes at forest edges or under forest in ravines, at an altitude of 800-1100 m. The fruit is used medicinally and has the effects of dispelling wind, regulating qi, relaxing tendons, and relieving pain. It is mostly cultivated in gardens for landscaping. This plant is also abbreviated as Chinese quince, but it is a different plant from the subtropical fruit papaya (also abbreviated as papaya). Although the differences are very great, they are still easily confused. The flowering period of Chinese quince crabapple is in April, and the fruiting period is from September to October.