Glossary · Fruit
Malus domestica
Latin. Kept in its own language here rather than translated into the nearest English word, because the nearest English word is usually cut on a different axis.
Also written Malus pumila, Malus × domestica. Each is a name for the same thing, which is why none of them has an entry of its own.
Definition
The cultivated apple, the species to which all cider apple cultivars belong. It is a hybrid complex rather than a clean wild species, which is why its botanical name has repeatedly been revised.
- Subject
- Fruit
- Language
- Latin
- Also written
- Malus pumila, Malus × domestica
Related terms
Terms that belong to the same part of the subject, or that this one is routinely confused with.
Fruit
Malus sieversii
The wild apple of the Tien Shan mountains of central Asia, established by genetic evidence as the principal ancestor of the domesticated apple.
Fruit
Crab apple
A small, hard, very acidic and often astringent apple, whether a wild species or a small-fruited cultivar. Crabs are used as orchard pollinators, occasionally as a source of acid and tannin, and traditionally for verjuice.
Fruit
Cultivar
A named clone propagated by grafting, so that every tree of it is genetically identical to the original seedling. "Variety" is used interchangeably in trade, though it has a stricter botanical meaning.
Perry
Pyrus communis
The European pear, the species to which almost all perry pears and dessert pears belong. Perry cultivars are selections within it, not a separate species.
Where to go next
- Cider glossary — The whole vocabulary, by subject and A–Z.
- Comparisons — Terms that are only really clear when set against the thing they are not.
- Search — Finds terms by their aliases and by their spellings in other languages.
Sources
What this page rests on. Where a source is marked as registered rather than read, CiderHQ is recording that the body is authoritative on the subject without claiming to have worked through the document itself. See our evidence policy for what each state means.
GRIN-Global germplasm database — Malus and Pyrus
United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service · research institute · retrieved 2026-08-24
University of Reading / Defra, Brogdale · research institute · retrieved 2026-08-24
The UK national reference collection for apple and pear cultivars. The authority CiderHQ uses for whether two names are the same fruit, which is the central duplicate-resolution problem in cider data.