Oblong
Crab Apple
Oblong Siberian Crab
Origin/History
A Siberian crab apple (Malus baccata) known under the synonyms Oblong-Fruited Siberian Crab and Oblong Siberian Crab. Described by Desportes in The Horticulturist as early as 1851 (with a figure showing two specimens of different size). Beach (1905) notes that the variety had been sparingly disseminated in New York but was by his time seldom or never planted there, and judged it not superior to other varieties of its season.
Tree
Not described in source.
Fruit
Size and Form: Desportes gives dimensions of one and a half inches high and a little more than one inch in diameter. Beach describes it as medium size. All three sources agree on the general shape: Desportes calls it oblong or ovoid and irregular; Downing calls it elongated conic; Beach calls it oblong conic.
Stem: Desportes describes the stalk as long, slender, and curved, larger at the upper part. Beach corroborates it as very long and slender, and adds that it is usually bracted.
Cavity: Desportes notes a distinctive structural irregularity: a lip surmounts the insertion of one side of the stem, and another lip surmounts the eye. This gives the fruit an irregular outline at both ends.
Calyx: Desportes describes the calyx as small and almost wholly covered by the lip at the eye end, and crowded by small wrinkles.
Basin: Not described in source.
Skin: The sources conflict on ground color and extent of red coloring. Desportes (1856) describes the fruit as red crimson everywhere, speckled with small gray dots, with no mention of yellow ground. Downing (1900) and Beach (1905) describe a predominantly pale fruit: Downing gives the color as light yellow, almost white, washed, marbled, and striped with crimson and carmine, and covered with a thin bloom; Beach similarly gives yellowish-white, partly shaded with crimson, striped with carmine, and covered with thin bloom. Downing and Beach are in close agreement with each other on this point.
Flesh and Flavor: Not described in source.
Core and Seeds: Not described in source.
Season
Ripens earlier than other Siberian crab varieties of comparable type. Desportes places ripening generally about the end of September.
Uses
Not described in source.
Subtypes/Variants
Not described in source.
Other
Desportes's illustration in The Horticulturist depicts two specimens of the same variety at notably different sizes, indicating some variability in fruit size within the type.
Book Sources
Described in 3 period pomological works
View original book sources (3)
— B. Desportes, The Horticulturist (1856)No. 5. Oblong Siberian Crab—Baccata fructa oblonga. Fruit, one and a half inches high, and a little more than an inch in diameter; form, oblong or ovoid, irregular; a lip surmounts the insertion of a side of the stem, and another the eye; the stalk is long, slender, curved, larger at the upper part; calyx, small and almost wholly covered by the lip, and crowded by small wrinkles; color, red crimson everywhere, speckled with small gray dots; the time of ripening is earlier than for the other kind; this time arrives generally about the end of September. The figure shows two specimens of different size, of the same kind.
— A.J. Downing, The Fruits and Fruit Trees of America (1900)Oblong-Fruited Siberian Crab.
Fruit elongated conic, light yellow, almost white, washed, marbled, and striped with crimson and carmine, and covered with a thin bloom.
— S.A. Beach, The Apples of New York, Vol. 2 (1905)OBLONG*
REFERENCES. 1. Desportes, Horticulturist, 6:507. 1851. fig. 2. Downing, 1869:425. 3. Barry, 1883:360.
SYNONYMS. Baccata fructa oblonga (1). OBLONG-FRUITED SIBERIAN CRAB (2). OBLONG SIBERIAN CRAB (1, 3).
Fruit medium size, oblong conic, yellowish-white, partly shaded with crimson, striped with carmine and covered with thin bloom; stem very long, slender, usually bracted. This variety has been sparingly disseminated in New York but is now seldom or never planted here. It is not superior to other varieties of its season.