Malus rivularis
Douglas ex Hook.
Oregon crab apple
Wikimedia Commons - Gordon Leppig & Andrea J. Pickart
Wikimedia Commons - Metacladistics
What to Eat
Edible parts: Fruit
Fruit is eaten.
Where to Find It
It is a temperate plant.
North America, USA,
How to Identify
A temperate tree in the rose family (Rosaceae) commonly known as Oregon crab apple, grown for its fruit.
Medicinal Uses
The oblong fruit can be eaten, but has a sour flavor. The fruit can also be used for extraction of pectin, useful in helping make jams and jellies from other fruits, and is also made into jams and jellies itself. The bark can be used as an herbal medicine. It is also grown in parks and gardens as an ornamental plant. Pacific crabapple fruits were prized by indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest as a food source, and were gathered all along the coast. As a traditional medicinal plant, infusions of the bark and/or fruit were used, including for stomach disorders, skin and eye infections, and as an analgesic. The tree was also valued for its tough, resilient wood, used for making implements, and for its bark, used for a wide range of medicinal purposes.
Names & Synonyms
References (2)
- Fam. nat. syn. monogr. 3:215. 1847
- Hedrick, U.P., 1919, (Ed.), Sturtevant's edible plants of the world. p 542 (As Pyrus rivularis)
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