PlantFiles: Southern Crabapple, Narrow-leaved Crab Apple
Malus angustifolia

I love this tree, although it's very slow-growing. Mine has been in the ground about 5 years and is still only ten feet tall. The scent of the flowers is incomparable, and from what I've seen, it usually flowers after it leafs out. I only had one good year for fruit, and no luck so far growing from seed. However, it acts as though it wants to spread underground and form thickets, the way Chickasaw plum does. I'm not overly concerned with pest problems; since it's a native, it's a far better bet here in Florida than those scentless ornamental crabs, in my opinion.

I planted three of these trees last year and they are thriving, they have grown over 2ft this year alone. I have tried growing domesticated apples and they just don't perform well here, but these little southern natives seem much better adapted to the heat and sandy soil. I'm going to make sure to rake up and burn the fallen leaves and hopefully that will keep the diseases at bay, so far no signs of disease though.

50 years ago these little trees were everywhere. Walking home from school, we would often stop by the trees for snacks of the orange fruits. Those with the reddish blush were always the sweetest. I have the only one I know of left in this area. Maybe its value to me is nostalgic, but I love this little tree. The bark is very rough, the leaves are more round and quite small, it is covered with white bloom in spring and followed by fruit in late spring and early summer.

I had never noticed any problem with disease on this tree in my early years. Mine now does have some kind of fungus that destroys some of the fruit. And I have never seen a volunteer seedling or germinated a seed. Possibly my methods are too haphazard. DR

Then again if you're willing to give it a shot... it's a threatened FL native.

In the rose family. Hardy to 8a. Impressive flowers. "angustifolia" meaning narrow leaves, is not quite accurate because the leaves are not narrow.

A southern native found from Virginia through Florida, M. angustifolia isn't recommended for the landscape as it's prone to cedar apple rust, eastern tent caterpillar, insect borers, and other problems.