ABSTRACT
The apple tree is a deciduous tree in the rose family best known for its sweet, pomaceous fruit, the apple. Apples are cultivated worldwide as a fruit tree and is the most widely grown species in the genus Malus. The apple tree grows approximately 1.8 to 4.6 m (6 to 15 ft) tall in cultivation and up to 12 m (39 ft) in the wild. The leaves are characterized by alternate arrangements of dark green-colored, simple ovals with serrated margins and slightly downy undersides. The apple fruit matures during late summer or autumn, and cultivars exist in a wide range of sizes. World production of apples in 2014 was 84.6 million tons from which China contributing to 48% of the world total. Other major producers with 6% or less of the world total were the United States, Poland, Turkey, and Italy (Figure 4.1). Apple. https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-u.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9780429504907/f2169f40-da20-487f-8a23-c310be3e556b/content/fig4_1_C.jpg"/>
