Although this variable species (2n = 34, 51, 68) is widely scattered across eastern states (FNA 9), at least on less fertile non-calcareous soils, it is generally not abundant. Most of the uncertain records mapped here as open dots are referable to var. dasycalyx Rehd., which may be transitional to ioensis, or to var. lancifolia (Rehd.) Fern., which may be transitional to angustifolia. These segregates have generally not been recognized in recent treatments (e.g. Cr, W). Plants known as M. platycarpa Rehd may represent triploid or tetraploid (2n = 51 or 68) hybrids with domestica (McVaugh 1943, Olien 1987, Kron & Husband 2009; W); Sargent (1926) reported platycarpa as a species from BATH; a coll. is unknown. Vegetation with abundant native Malus has almost disappeared in eastern North America; NatureServe lists it (with ioensis) only from n. Ill. (CEGL 5073]. Although species of native Malus are uncommon to rare in most regions of Ky., some historical clues suggest they were locally dominant during early settlement, e.g. the place name "Crab Orchard" in LINC along the old Wilderness Trail from Va. In more agricultural areas of the state, native Malus appears to have declined much since settlement. In the central Bluegrass it is now unknown here in the wild, but Short (1828-9) here noted: "The crab-apple, which was at one time more abundant than at present, is yet found occasionally in the more secluded woods of this county; and, where in clearing the land it has been allowed to remain, it forms a tree nearly equalling in magnititude the cultivated variety. The flowers of the wild crab are, indeed, more showy than those of the domestic apple tree...when in full bloom they produce a beautiful effect and diffuse a delicious odour to a great distance: The fruit is sometimes preserved with sugar." Flowering in Ky. can be spread over a relatively wide range of dates, even within the same population, from early April to mid-May.