Wild apple
A treasure is collected in Türkiye
Bitlis city, Eastern side of Türkiye.
The wild apple (Malus sylvestris) is a small tree that is more the size of a large shrub. It is deciduous, shedding its leaves each season. Native to Europe, it can be found in small groups or in individual trees at the edges of forests or adjacent to farmland as hedges. It can even be found in more stark landscapes, devoid of other vegetation. These apple trees need a great deal of sunlight but can grow in a wide variety of soils and so they have a wide range. The species also does well in wetter areas, such as the wet edge of a forest.
Malus Sylvestris is also called the ‘European crab apple’ because of its spiny appearance and twisted limbs. It is the wild ancestor to the apple species that is more often cultivated (farmed) for fruit production, Malus Domestica (which can have thousands of varieties). The wild apple tree can live up to a century. It has a round, wide shape and a large spreading canopy, reaching up to 10 meters in height. Its bark is greyish brown and flecked, and its timber has little commercial value. It is the fruit that is the prize!
Wild apples are beneficial for local wildlife, such as food for caterpillars. The flowers provide important nectar for bees, and the fruit itself is eaten by birds and small mammals such as foxes and badges.
For communities in Türkiye, where several UEBT member companies are harvesting wild apples for mainly, although not exclusively, the fruit-herbal tea sector, the fruits are an important source of community income. Local companies work with wild collectors to harvest apples from the wild, and then the companies dry them to sell as slices, as coarse or medium cut pieces or even as fine powders. Türkiye is well known for its bountiful fruits, with hundreds of varieties used domestically and for export, and wild apples do well because of the country’s diverse geography and climate.
However, as a wild species, these apples face similar threats to other wild species. One of the largest threats to wild species is direct loss of habitat. Weakened ecosystems are threatened by human activities that are changing the climate and introducing invasive species. Poverty is also a significant driver of habitat loss. As elsewhere in the world, wild fruits in Türkiye face threats from humans, over-grazing, over-harvesting and climate change.