The fruit is a pome that matures in late summer or autumn, and cultivars exist in a wide range of sizes. The central flower of the inflorescence is called the 'king bloom' it opens first and can develop a larger fruit. The 3 to 4 cm (1 to 1 + 1⁄ 2 in) flowers are white with a pink tinge that gradually fades, five petaled, with an inflorescence consisting of a cyme with 4–6 flowers. Descriptionīlossoms are produced in spring simultaneously with the budding of the leaves and are produced on spurs and some long shoots. Īs late as the 17th century, the word also functioned as a generic term for all fruit including nuts-such as the 14th-century Middle English expression appel of paradis, meaning a banana. The word apple, whose Old English ancestor is æppel, is descended from the Proto-Germanic noun * aplaz, descended in turn from Proto-Indo-European * h₂ébōl. Worldwide production of apples in 2018 was 86 million tonnes, with China accounting for nearly half of the total. In 2010, the fruit's genome was sequenced as part of research on disease control and selective breeding in apple production. Trees and fruit are prone to a number of fungal, bacterial, and pest problems, which can be controlled by a number of organic and non-organic means. Different cultivars are bred for various tastes and uses, including cooking, eating raw, and cider production. There are more than 7,500 known cultivars of apples.

Rootstocks are used to control the speed of growth and the size of the resulting tree, allowing for easier harvesting. Apple trees grown without rootstocks tend to be larger and much slower to fruit after planting. Generally, apple cultivars are propagated by clonal grafting onto rootstocks. Apples have religious and mythological significance in many cultures, including Norse, Greek, and European Christian tradition.Īpples grown from seed tend to be very different from those of their parents, and the resultant fruit frequently lacks desired characteristics. Apples have been grown for thousands of years in Asia and Europe and were brought to North America by European colonists. The tree originated in Central Asia, where its wild ancestor, Malus sieversii, is still found today.

Apple trees are cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus Malus. An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree ( Malus domestica).

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