American or sweet or fragrant crabapple, garland tree

Pyrus coronaria Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 1: 480. 1753; Malus angustifolia (Aiton) Michaux var. puberula (Rehder) Rehder; M. bracteata Rehder; M. carolinensis Ashe; M. coronaria var. bracteata (Rehder) Likhonos; M. coronaria var. dasycalyx Rehder; M. coronaria var. elongata (Rehder) Rehder; M. coronaria var. glabrata (Rehder) Likhonos; M. coronaria var. glaucescens (Rehder) Likhonos; M. coronaria var. hoopesii Rehder; M. coronaria var. lancifolia (Rehder) C. F. Reed; M. coronaria var. platycarpa (Rehder) Likhonos; M. coronaria var. plena C. K. Schneider; M. coronaria var. puberula Rehder; M. elongata (Rehder) Ashe; M. fragrans Rehder; M. glabrata Rehder; M. glaucescens Rehder; M. lancifolia Rehder; M. platycarpa Rehder; P. bracteata (Rehder) L. H. Bailey; P. coronaria var. dasycalyx (Rehder) Fernald; P. coronaria var. elongata (Rehder) L. H. Bailey; P. coronaria var. lancifolia (Rehder) Fernald

Trees, sometimes shrubs, 25–75(–100) dm. Stems 1–45 cm diam.; bark reddish brown to gray, longitudinally fissured with platelike scales; young branches reddish brown to dark brown, with orange lenticels, pubescent, glabrescent; flowering shoots becoming spurs or spiny thorns, (10–)20–40(–100) mm. Buds reddish brown, ovoid, 1–6 mm, scale margins tomentose. Leaves conduplicate in bud; heteromorphic; stipules deciduous, linear-lanceolate, (3–)4–6(–7) mm, apex acuminate; vigorous shoot leaves: petiole (7–)10–25(–30) mm, glabrous or villous, sometimes puberulent; blade ovate or triangular-ovate, sometimes lanceolate, (2.5–)4–8(–10) × (1.5–)4–6(–8) cm, base rounded or cordate-rounded, sometimes cuneate, margins ± lobed, sometimes unlobed, serrate, sometimes doubly serrate or crenate-serrate, apex broadly acute or acute, sometimes rounded, apiculate, abaxial surface glabrous (villous only on veins), adaxial glabrous; flowering shoot leaves: petiole 5–15(–25) mm, glabrous or villous; blade ovate, triangular-ovate, or lanceolate, sometimes oval or elliptic, (15–)20–60(–85) × (10–)15–45(–60) mm, base rounded or cordate, sometimes cuneate-rounded or cuneate, margins lobed or unlobed, serrate, sometimes crenate-serrate, doubly serrate, or entire, apex acute or broadly acute (rounded with point or rounded), abaxial surface glabrous (veins villous), adaxial glabrous. Panicles corymblike; peduncles absent; bracteoles sometimes persistent, filiform, 3–5(–10) mm. Pedicels (10–)20–30(–40) mm, glabrous, sometimes villous. Flowers 25–40 mm diam.; hypanthium glabrous, sometimes puberulent; sepals triangular, (3–)4–6(–7) mm, equal to slightly longer than tube, apex acute or acuminate, abaxial surface glabrous, sometimes glabrescent, adaxial hoary-tomentose; petals pink, sometimes fading white, oblong-obovate, ovate, or oblong, (11–)12–18(–20) mm, claws (2–)3–4 mm, margins entire, sinuate, or fimbriate, apex rounded; stamens 20, (8–)10–13(–14) mm, anthers pink, rose, salmon, or purple before dehiscence; styles 5, connate basally, (8–)10–12(–16) mm, equal to or slightly longer than stamens, villous in proximal 1/2. Pomes green or yellow-green, depressed-globose, 15–30(–55) mm diam., cores not enclosed at apex; sepals persistent, erect; sclereids abundant surrounding core. Seeds dark brown. 2n = 34, 51, 68.

Flowering (Apr–)May(–Jun); fruiting Sep–Oct. Open woods, forest edges, thickets, stream banks, fields, fencerows, roadsides; 50–1000 m; Ont.; Ala., Ark., Del., D.C., Ga., Ill., Ind., Kans., Ky., La., Md., Mich., Mo., N.J., N.Y., N.C., Ohio, Pa., S.C., Tenn., Va., W.Va., Wis.

Leaves of Malus coronaria are variable in shape and lobing, leading Rehder in the early 1900s to recognize a number of eastern taxa. For examples, M. lancifolia was described as having ovate-lanceolate to oblong-lanceolate leaves; M. glabrata and M. glaucescens were described as having triangular-ovate or ovate leaves that are distinctly lobed. Specimens with relatively large fruit and only slightly lobed leaves were named M. platycarpa.

Double-flowered forms have been found in nature and selected for cultivation: forma charlottae Rehder and forma nieuwlandiana A. D. Slavin.