Wild apple coming into flower in ancient wood pasture - Cree Valley, Dumfries and Galloway. Photo: R. Worrell
Native Scottish Crab Apple is a Red data book species and this project, devised and undertaken by Rick Worrell, provided the first account of the distribution of wild apple in northern Britain.
The project compared DNA markers in 342 wild-grown apples; and showed that 27% of apparent crab apples are actually hybrids between wild and domestic apple. However, substantial populations of more or less pure wild apple were found in several parts of Scotland, occurring where there is a high incidence of semi-natural woodland, for example in Loch Lomond and the Trossachs, Galloway, Highland Perthshire and the Lake District.
Read the report which provides a summary of the methodology used and details of the ecology of wild crab apple sites, where it can be planted in future and how the population can be increased.
