66. Carmine Crabapple

Tree Tour

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In front of Architecture Hall are 5 Carmine Crabapple trees and 3 Japanese flowering crabs (M. floribunda); south of Cunningham Hall are 3 more carmine crabs with one Japanese. These are broad, low, twisty-trunked little trees. In April their deep red buds open to carmine-pink flowers (white in the Japanese); in autumn tiny fruits await hungry birds. The carmine crab is a hybrid that arose at the Arnold Arboretum near Boston before 1889; Japanese crab was introduced to the U.S. in 1862. Even in summer the two trees can be told apart: the carmine has darker, larger, sleeker leaves, less hairy and more coarsely toothed and lobed. Overall, carmine crabs are smaller, less dense, far less often planted.

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