Niedzwetzky's Apple Seeds (Malus Niedzwetzkyana)

Organic Niedzwetzky's Apple (Malus Niedzwetzkyana)

Leaves 3 to 5 in. long, 2 to 21⁄2 in. wide, ovate or oval, round-toothed, downy all over the lower surface when young, afterwards on the midrib only; stalk downy, 3⁄4 to 11⁄2 in. long.

The stalk and midrib are bright red, the blade also is of a decided red tinge when young, becoming purplish later in the season.  Flowers in apple-like clusters, deep red-purple, 11⁄2 in. across, flower-stalks 1⁄2 to 3⁄4 in. long and, like the calyx, covered with whitish wool. Fruits conical, with a few broad grooves running lengthwise; 2 in. long, of a deep vinous red. Bot. Mag., t. 7975.

This apple occurs in the mountains of Russian Central Asia and bordering parts of China. It is recognised as a species in Fl. SSSR, near to M. sieversii, of which it may only be a colour variant. It has also been suggested that it is really a form of orchard apple (M. domestica).

Five seedlings from it were raised at Kew, and of these, three came as green in branch and leaf as the ordinary apple, and the flowers were merely pink – not the beautiful red which makes this one of the most striking of its group.

It was introduced to cultivation by Dr Dieck, of Zoeschen, in Germany. The fruit is not of high quality as we know apples, being of rather turnip-like consistency. So completely is the tree permeated with red colouring matter that the young wood, when cut, shows red right through, as does also the fruit. Introduced to England in 1894.

M. niedzwetzkyana is uncommon in gardens, for it does not flower freely and is subject to scab. But many of the garden hybrids owe to it the reddish or purplish colouration of their flowers, fruits and foliage. See M. × purpurea and the clones cross-referenced there; the Rosybloom group treated below; and also ‘Profusion’ and ‘Liset’ (p. 717).