Malus baccata
Siberian crabapple [Blooms: Apr-May]
Siberian crabapple (Malus baccata) flowers and fruit. Top right: a newly opened Siberian crabapple flower with three unopened buds to the left. Note that both the numerous stamens and the four green styles (black arrow) remain tightly clustered. Top left: a fully opened flower with the stamens and styles widely spread. Note the very narrow bases of the white petals. Bottom right: lateral and three-quarters views of the back of Siberian crabapple flowers. Note the lance-shaped, reddish green sepals. Bottom left: developing fruits of Siberian crabapples.
Siberian crabapple (Malus baccata) stems and leaves. (1) A newly opened leaf in late April showing the upper surface of the leaf (1a) and the underside of the same leaf (1b). The fuzziness on both surfaces is due to a coating of fine hairs. (2) A maturing leaf in early May. A fuzz of fine hairs is still present but noticeably thinner. (3) A mature Siberian crabapple leaf in mid-June. The leaf surfaces by now are virtually hairless. (4, 5) Close-up photos of the bark of two different Siberian crabapple trees. Note that the color can vary from gray to gray-brown, but the “platey” appearance of the bark is manifest in both images.
Two Siberian crabapples (Malus baccata) in full bloom. The upper image is of a Siberian crabapple growing south of Columbia Basin in early May, 2025; Wooded Island would be off the right-hand side of this image. In the lower left of this image is an enlarged image of a typical Siberian crabapple flower. The lower image is of two young Siberian crabapples growing on the northwest shore of West Lagoon in late April, 2026.
Siberian crabapple (Malus baccata) is an exotic tree that is native to cold-temperate habits throughout Asia and has been widely planted as an ornamental in the U.S. It is the most cold-hardy (Zone 2) of all the species of Malus (apples) and is often used as a rootstock for grafting other species. Siberian crabapple grows to 30-40 feet tall, often with attractive, arching branches. The trunk may be up to about a foot across. The bark on the trunk is dark gray and divided into scaly plates; young branches have reddish orange to reddish brown bark. The leaves are alternate, elliptical or egg shaped, up to 3″ long and about 1.5″ across, with serrate margins and long pointed tips; the petioles are 1-2″ long. Young leaves are hairy, but the hairs disappear as the leaves mature. The flowers occur in groups of 4-6. Individual flowers are 1.25″ across; they have five reddish-green, lance-shaped sepals; five white, circular petals with a narrow (1-2 mm) base (“claw”) attaching them to the rest of the flower; 15-20 white stamens, each 7-9 mm long with a yellow to tan anther; and five (sometimes four) green styles that are slightly longer (8-10 mm) than the stamens that have globose stigmas at their tips. The fruits (pomes) are red or yellow crabapples about 5/8″ in diameter; both humans and birds find them edible. Siberian crabapple has been widely planted in Jackson Park, especially on the lawn south of Columbia Basin and west of the Darrow Bridge. Siberian crabapples make a spectacular display — rivaling the cherry blossoms — when in full bloom in early spring.
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![The flowers of amur maple occur in oblong clusters circular in section about 1.5" long and 1" across on the tips of the branches; flower clusters don't appear until after the leaves have emerged. There are two kinds of flowers in each cluster, both yellowish white in color, about 1/8" across, both with five sepals and five petals (each 1.5-2 mm long); the petals' tips curve in over the central parts of the flower. One flower type is staminate with eight stamens (no ovary or style) within the ring of sepals and petals. The other flower type is "perfect" with both eight stamens tipped with light yellow anthers and with a distinct central style rising above the stamens that bears a split tip that curls back. Minnesota Wildflowers [https://www.minnesotawildflowers.info/tree/amur-maple] states that the style splits in two, but the amur maple present in Jackson Park has perfect flowers whose styles either split in two or split in three — both morphs are present in the same flower cluster. Fertilized perfect flowers produce a fruit that is a pair of winged seeds (samaras) joined seed-to-seed with the wings making an angle of less than 30° (much less than most maples). Initially green in color, the samaras develop reddish highlights before turning bright reddish pink in mid to late summer. When the fruit matures in early to mid-autumn, each samara is 1-1.5" long and turns light brown.](https://jacksonparkwildflowers.info/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Acer_ginnala-1ta-300x300.jpg)
![Wild leeks (Allium tricoccum) (a.k.a., "ramps") is an herbaceous native perennial found in the north-east quarter of the U.S. and the eastern provinces of Canada. It is most common in moist hardwood forests but is threatened by over-harvesting. It is listed as "Vulnerable in Illinois" [https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.138691/Allium_tricoccum_var_tricoccum]. In early spring, the bulb of a wild leek produces 2-3 leaves that are each 4-9" long and 1.5-3.5" across with petioles that are reddish to maroon, hairless, and wrapped in a sheath basally. The leaves wither by early summer (before flowering). Later (early to mid-summer) the bulb produces a naked flower stalk 6-18" tall; the stalk is hairless, circular in section, and pale green to maroon with a papery sheath at its base. At the apex of the stalk is a single, spherical umbel, 1-2" across, of 20-40 white flowers, with a pair of bracts at the base of the umbel when fresh. Individual flowers are about 1/4" across; the flowers contain six white to translucent tepals (6-7 mm long, three with a reddish tip); a light green to pale yellow ovary; six, 6 mm long, stamens with pale yellow anthers that extend beyond the tips of the tepals; and a single, white 3-4 mm long style that extends past the three lobes of the ovary but not beyond the anthers. The stigma tiny and spherical. Fertilized flowers produce a three-celled seed capsule, each cell containing a single globoid seed that turns glossy black at maturity. Wild leeks are denizens of hardwood forests with rich, loamy soils. The leaves and bulbs are edible, but you really shouldn't — this plant depends on only a couple of weeks of photosynthesis to produce its leaves and flowers and is highly vulnerable to overexploitation by humans. If you see one of these plants, smile and know that you have been blessed. Then walk away.](https://jacksonparkwildflowers.info/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Allium_tricoccum-2t-300x300.jpg)
![Evening primrose — clusters of yellow flowers occur at the apex of the plant. The flowers are 1-2" across, with four 1/2-1" long green sepals strongly reflected over a long (3/4-2"), green, cylindrical floral tube (the ovary is located just above the leaf axil), four heart-shaped yellow petals, eight stamens, and a single style with an X-shaped stigma. The sepals typically remain connected (in pairs) along one edge until the flower opens. The seedpods develop within the ovary (the base of the elongate floral tube); they are hairy, urn-shaped with rounded edges, and have four or eight small lobes on the apex. The seeds are claimed to remain viable in the soil for up to 70 years. The flowers open at dusk and close early in the day. — — — There are (at least) three evening primroses in Jackson Park — common evening primrose (Oenothera biennis), northern evening primrose (Oenothera parviflora), and hairy evening primrose (Oenothera villosa). They are easily confused with each other. (Judging by the conflicts between the accounts on Illinois Wildflowers [https://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/], Minnesota Wildflowers [https://www.minnesotawildflowers.info/], and Missouri Plants [http://www.missouriplants.com/], even the experts are confused.) All three species have yellow flowers with an X-shaped stigma, reflected sepals, petals with a small notch in their apex, stems that may be red or green, and lance-shaped leaves with short, widely-spaced teeth. Northern evening primrose is distinguished by (1) the presence of a knob or ridge at the tip of each sepal which the other two species lack (2) a seed capsule with four robust, flaring lobes with rounded tips at the apex of the seed capsule, and (3) a stigma that is very robust and almost fills the opening of the flower. Northern evening primrose has green to yellowish-green sepals. Hairy evening primrose (often but not always) has (1) striped or reddish-tinged sepals (check the buds where this character is often easier to see), (2) flowers that turn orange as they begin to senesce (although the reliability of this character is uncertain), and (3) always has glandular hairs covering the ovary that have "pimple-like" bright-red bases; these red pimples may also occur on the stems. All three species are somewhat similar to prairie sundrop (O. pilosella); the latter has very hairy stems and leaves, and translucent lines that radiate from the base of the petals in the flowers.](https://jacksonparkwildflowers.info/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Oenothera_biennis-1t-300x300.jpg)
![Northern evening primrose flowers are 3/4-1.5" across, have four yellow, heart-shaped petals, eight yellow stamens, and a cross-shaped stigma on a modest style; the stamens are as long or longer than the petals and the stigma is nearly fills the floral opening. At the base of the flower are four sepals 1/2-1" long, that bend back along the 3/4-1.5" long floral tube as the flower develops with pairs of sepals attached along one edge until the flower opens. Only northern evening primrose with a distinct ridge or knob near the tips of the sepals. The seed capsule develops from the ovary; it is 3/4-1.5" long, cylindrical but tapering slightly towards the tip, with four robust, flaring lobes at the tip. — — — There are (at least) three evening primroses in Jackson Park — common evening primrose (Oenothera biennis), northern evening primrose (Oenothera parviflora), and hairy evening primrose (Oenothera villosa). They are easily confused with each other. (Judging by the conflicts between the accounts on Illinois Wildflowers [https://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/], Minnesota Wildflowers [https://www.minnesotawildflowers.info/], and Missouri Plants [http://www.missouriplants.com/], even the experts are confused.) All three species have yellow flowers with an X-shaped stigma, reflected sepals, petals with a small notch in their apex, stems that may be red or green, and lance-shaped leaves with short, widely-spaced teeth. Northern evening primrose is distinguished by (1) the presence of a knob or ridge at the tip of each sepal which the other two species lack (2) a seed capsule with four robust, flaring lobes with rounded tips at the apex of the seed capsule, and (3) a stigma that is very robust and almost fills the opening of the flower. Northern evening primrose has green to yellowish-green sepals and is the only one of the three evening primroses to (sometimes) have reddish color on some or all of the midvein of the leaves. Hairy evening primrose (often but not always) has (1) striped or reddish-tinged sepals (check the buds where this character is often easier to see), (2) flowers that turn orange as they begin to senesce (although the reliability of this character is uncertain), and (3) always has glandular hairs covering the ovary that have "pimple-like" bright-red bases; these red pimples may also occur on the stems. All three species are somewhat similar to prairie sundrop (O. pilosella); the latter has very hairy stems and leaves, and translucent lines that radiate from the base of the petals in the flowers.](https://jacksonparkwildflowers.info/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Oenothera_parviflora-1t-300x300.jpg)
![Hairy evening primrose produves an elongating spike of flowers arises from the apex of the stem; flowers bloom near the tip while older flowers and seed capsules develop below. Individual flowers are 3/4-1.5" across; they sit on a long floral tube with the ovary at its base (attached to a leaf axil). The flowers have four yellow, heart-shaped petals, eight yellow stamens, and a cross-shaped stigma on a modest style; at the base of the flower are four sepals 3/8-3/4" long, reflected back along the floral tube as the flower develops with pairs of sepals attached along one edge until the flower opens. The sepals are often red-striped or red-tinged. Note the long, hairy floral tube below the sepals, the reddish stem, and glandular hairs with red bases on the ovary. The seed capsule develops from the ovary; it is up to 1.75" long, cylindrical but tapering slightly towards the tip, with four tiny lobes at the tip. — — — There are (at least) three evening primroses in Jackson Park — common evening primrose (Oenothera biennis), northern evening primrose (Oenothera parviflora), and hairy evening primrose (Oenothera villosa). They are easily confused with each other. (Judging by the conflicts between the accounts on Illinois Wildflowers [https://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/], Minnesota Wildflowers [https://www.minnesotawildflowers.info/], and Missouri Plants [http://www.missouriplants.com/], even the experts are confused.) All three species have yellow flowers with an X-shaped stigma, reflected sepals, petals with a small notch in their apex, stems that may be red or green, and lance-shaped leaves with short, widely-spaced teeth. Northern evening primrose is distinguished by (1) the presence of a knob or ridge at the tip of each sepal which the other two species lack (2) a seed capsule with four robust, flaring lobes with rounded tips at the apex of the seed capsule, and (3) a stigma that is very robust and almost fills the opening of the flower. Northern evening primrose has green to yellowish-green sepals. Hairy evening primrose (often but not always) has (1) striped or reddish-tinged sepals (check the buds where this character is often easier to see), (2) flowers that turn orange as they begin to senesce (although the reliability of this character is uncertain), and (3) always has glandular hairs covering the ovary that have "pimple-like" bright-red bases; these red pimples may also occur on the stems. All three species are somewhat similar to prairie sundrop (O. pilosella); the latter has very hairy stems and leaves, and translucent lines that radiate from the base of the petals in the flowers.](https://jacksonparkwildflowers.info/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Oenothera_villosa-1t-300x300.jpg)
