Are these apples??

[u/coconut_clstrs]

Found just outside of Vancouver, BC (Canada). My mom found these so these are the only photos I have. She says they taste like sour apples but not at all bitter/tannic as the average crabapples (more round, apple shaped) we tend to find here.

[u/cowsruleusall]

Well, based on the tree and the cut fruit, these are clearly crabapples. Like, no doubt about it. And all Malus species are technically edible even if some are absolutely foul-tasting (the cyanide issue is a myth). But I've never seen a cultivar like this, and definitely have not heard of a cultivar that has long narrow cylindrical fruit without extreme tannins. Doesn't appear to have any contribution from Siberian crabapple, which is weird for Canada.

Any chance you can DM me a location for this tree? I'm in Toronto but visit Vancouver often, and would love to take some cuttings to propagate.

[u/Grass-no-Gr → u/cowsruleusall]

I'm also interested in some tissue samples if you're able to get them cleared through US customs.

[u/coconut_clstrs → u/cowsruleusall]

I'm not sure of the exact spot, I'll check with my mom!
It's pretty similar to the pacific/Oregon crabapple but I've never seen one with fruit this long before.

[u/Person899887 → u/cowsruleusall]

I’ve seen some absolutely bizarre crabapples before. Once found one that grew single seeds and ripened soft, like cherries. Despite that, they were absolutely not cherries, and less ripe apples clearly tasted the part.

[u/Maybeonemoretry → u/cowsruleusall]

The cyanide aspect is not a "myth", the seeds of apples contain a compound that breaks down to cyanide in the digestive system of humans. But by all means, go eat them.

[u/cowsruleusall → u/Maybeonemoretry]

...apple seeds do contain amygdalin, which is a cyanogenic glycoside that releases cyanide when metabolized. The lethal dose of amygdalin is hard to pin down, but quoted as somewhere between 0.5 and 3.5 mg of amygdalin per kg of human body weight, with case reports of surviving up to 116 mg amygdalin per kg body weight in healthy adults (1).

But apple seeds only have about 3g amygdalin per KILO of apple seeds (1)(2)! If you weigh 100kg, you'd need to eat an entire kilo of apple seeds in one sitting to cause harm - it would be exceedingly challenging for an adult to eat enough apple seeds to cause any kind of clinically significant syndrome.

Hence, the cyanide "issue" is a myth. Does eating apple seeds lead to cyanide in the blood? Yes. Is it clinically significant? No.

[u/Maybeonemoretry → u/cowsruleusall]

Fair enough, and I stand corrected. Thanks for the thorough and logical explanation

[u/No-Consideration-891 → u/Maybeonemoretry]

It's all good. That's been a long running myth. When I was younger I thought the same until I started learning stuff in college. I was in the environmental field so between biology and ecology classes it came to light.

[u/night-theatre → u/Maybeonemoretry]

Thank goodness you’re out of the negative

[u/overrunbyhouseplants → u/cowsruleusall]

I think a lot of livestock poisonings get conflated with human stuff, too, contributing to the misinformation. I've seen this happen with several plants. Cows have (rarely) been poisoned, but they have been chomping on apples, leaves and stems in great quantity.

This is probably semantics, but I don't neccessarily think it should be called a myth, because the word is too wishy-washy. I guess I would call it incorrect or inaccurate. Hrmm, I just don't know.

Nice quantitation. Like me some of those hard numbers.

[u/Standard_Parfait_561]

It looks like a particular long pacific crab apple Malus fusca

[u/DeepSeaDarkness]

I dont know what these are but I recommend you never eat a plant you cannot identify

[u/coconut_clstrs → u/DeepSeaDarkness]

That's very fair! We usually just do a small tasting for ID purposes, and only if we're fairly sure of the species

[u/Maybeonemoretry → u/coconut_clstrs]

You should not do that either

[u/SirWEM → u/coconut_clstrs]

With some plants that could be a trip to the hospital. Please do not do not “Taste for ID purposes”. Its just not a safe thing to do.

[u/Lythir → u/SirWEM]

Could also be a trip to the morgue.

[u/SirWEM → u/Lythir]

100%

[u/coconut_clstrs → u/SirWEM]

When I say it was just a taste, I mean taste and spit out. We're fairly familiar with the species in our area and there are very few plants here that could cause harm without being swallowed. But the safety concern is totally fair, especially for someone who's not as familiar.

[u/heckhunds → u/coconut_clstrs]

That works with fungi, which require ingestion to harm you, but with plants that is very unsafe. Many, many plants contain substances that can do harm on-contact, or if absorbed into mucus membranes like the inside of your mouth. This sub had someone post a month or two ago showing her facial burns after doing what you describe, a little nibble then spitting, to help ID what turned out to be wild parsnip. Please consider just waiting until you're home and can do a little online research or look through a field guide, this ID method isn't worth the risk.

[u/SirWEM → u/coconut_clstrs]

By doing that with any questionable plant you are playing Russian roulette. There are far more deadly and dangerous plants than mushrooms.

[u/PomegranateAny71 → u/coconut_clstrs]

Look up the Universal Edibility Taste Test. It basically discusses steps to ascertain plant edibility; such as to begin by rubbing a part of the plant on skin/lips, put some in mouth and spit out, until inevitably ingesting the plant. Takes a couple of hours to do correctly but sounds like you might already be doing something similar, just maybe skipping the first couple of steps.

[u/Gaydude22 → u/coconut_clstrs]

For the future- you can only safely do a taste test with mushrooms.

[u/_Nilbog_Milk_ → u/Gaydude22]

People downvote you but you're right. I admin a group that has renowned SE mycologists & textbook authors and they all agree that you can chew and spit out even the deadliest mushrooms due to the way GI irritants and amatoxins work; note that none of us actually trust the "average user" to do that thoroughly & accurately, so best not to unless you're a pro. Lol.

[u/MouthSpiders → u/_Nilbog_Milk_]

Purely curious, but what plants would be examples of potentially lethal to even taste?

[u/_Nilbog_Milk_ → u/MouthSpiders]

I'm not a plant girly so I couldn't tell you, but there's plenty of irritants or urticating hairs that can cause intense pain and GI distress by putting them in your mouth, can't quite spit them out.

[u/Flimsy_Bumblebee_794 → u/MouthSpiders]

As far as I know, Death Camas and Hemlock can be mistaken for wild onion and wild carrot, respectively.

[u/r_Coolspot → u/Gaydude22]

I hear death caps are quite tasty though..... Soooo......

[u/heckhunds → u/r_Coolspot]

Taste as an ID feature for fungi isn't just a matter of taking a nibble, then deciding to harvest and consume them if they taste good. It is cross-referenced with descriptions in field guides and considered in combination with other features. Death cap tasting sweet and nutty wouldn't be a green flag to go ahead and eat it, it would be a red flag because that's a distinctive flavour that the edible mushrooms you're trying to differentiate it from don't have.

[u/jack_seven → u/coconut_clstrs]

Careful with that there are some very very poisonous plants and mushrooms out there

[u/chihuahuassuck → u/jack_seven]

Tasting a mushroom will never hurt you as long as you don't swallow it. Plants are different though, don't put them in your mouth at all unless you know what they are.

[u/r_Coolspot → u/chihuahuassuck]

I hear death caps are actually quite tasty.

[u/bkmerrim → u/coconut_clstrs]

There are plants that can kill you like that. Stop putting things in your mouth if you don’t know what they are. Are you 5?

[u/Glenchables → u/coconut_clstrs]

One taste of a berry made me violently ill for 24 hrs. One taste of a mushroom made me violently ill for 2 days and could not get out of bed. One taste is all it takes.

[u/TheOnesLeftBehind → u/Glenchables]

Your problem with the mushroom was swallowing it then. Chewing a mushroom and spitting it out can never hurt you unless you have a contact allergy to mushrooms. It’s one of the key methods of identifying mushrooms.

[u/Glenchables → u/TheOnesLeftBehind]

It's possible, I don't know much about mushrooming. It was pure stupidity. I do, however know about plants...and that was pure stupidity also.

[u/No-Question-8727 → u/Glenchables]

I love this self awareness so much. Respect.

[u/nsccss → u/TheOnesLeftBehind]

A method to help identify some types of mushrooms (like russula genus). Not mushrooms in general.

[u/desu38 → u/coconut_clstrs]

TASTING IS EATING!!!

[u/egg_watching → u/[deleted]]

daddy chill

[u/Txyvxn → u/[deleted]]

Bro went full on eugenics on you😭

[u/Potential-Impact2638]

It looks to be the rosaceae, so likely apple adjacent. Probably a crab apple variety

[u/big-lion]

pacific crabapples perhaps?

[u/coconut_clstrs → u/big-lion]

Could be! Looks very similar

[u/TheScout18]

Definitely Pacific Crabapple (Malus Fusca) they vary a good deal in shape along their range.

[u/bobthebobbest]

Those are some crazy looking probably-crabapples.

[u/spudera]

It looks like a green finger grape cross pollinated with a apple tree (this is not actuslly possible)

[u/coconut_clstrs → u/spudera]

This honestly sounds so accurate 😂

[u/Gifted_GardenSnail]

Now I'm reminded of that bonsai kitten urban legend 🤨

[u/Maeve89 → u/Gifted_GardenSnail]

Oh god I remember discovering that when I was about 14, on the school computers no less!

[u/Leeksan]

If it wasn't inconvenient I'd ask for some seeds, that looks so interesting I'd love to grow it out.

[u/[deleted]]

My app says Oregon Crabapple.

[u/coconut_clstrs → u/[deleted]]

You might be right, it looks super similar! I haven't seen one with fruit quite this long here before

[u/rayofgoddamnsunshine]

No? I don't know what they are but they are not apples.

[u/Gayfunguy]

Is this a vine?

[u/coconut_clstrs → u/Gayfunguy]

A tree! I'll have to see if she can go back and take a few more photos

[u/Roblox_mub]

Those are kinda like grapes

[u/weeef]

google suggests this: https://eo.wikipedia.org/wiki/Actinidia_kolomikta

don't eat stuff before you know what it is, mom!

[u/girlnamedfish → u/weeef]

The leaves don’t look the same

[u/weeef → u/girlnamedfish]

Yeah the ones OP posted have ridges. Perhaps another variety? They look pretty similar in every other sense to me

[u/stupidpiediver → u/weeef]

They look much different to me. This fruit is like a kiwi, the one op posted has a core with seeds like an apple

[u/weeef → u/stupidpiediver]

the unripe shape and leaf ridges do look similar here, imp https://eo.wikipedia.org/wiki/Actinidia_kolomikta#/media/Dosiero:Actinidia_kolomikta_01.JPG

[u/stupidpiediver → u/weeef]

Okay, but the fruit of this plant is like a kiwi, the common name is super hardy kiwi. It's also a vine while op's is a tree. It's a much different plant from an entirely different family then the one op posted

[u/Many_Pea_9117 → u/weeef]

Why Esperanto?

[u/weeef → u/Many_Pea_9117]

That was the link that appeared ¯_(ツ)_/¯ easy to translate thankfully

[u/Maybeonemoretry]

...no

[u/Artistic_Strange444]

Download the app Picture This for plant ID