DEFINITION.

The fleshy pome or fruit of a rosaceous tree (Pyrus malus), the origin of which is probably the wild crab-apple of Europe, cultivated in innumerable varieties in the temperate zones.

It is scarcely known in the wild state, but as an escape from cultivation its fruit becomes small, acid, and harsh, and is known as the crab; the cultivated crab-apple is the fruit of other species of Pyrus. Of the cultivated crabs there are the Siberian (Pyrus prunifolia), the Chinese (Pyrus spectabillis), and the Cherry-crab (Pyrus baccata), all natives of northern Asia.

The apple was first introduced into America from England, in 1629, by the governor of Massachusetts Bay.