History and domestication

Malus species are native to the temperate zones of both hemispheres. The cultivated apple is thought to have been domesticated from a wild apple, M. sieversii, in the Tien Shan mountains in Central Asia some 4,000–10,000 years ago. From there it spread to western Europe along the Silk Road and hybridized with a number of wild crabapples, including M. baccata from Siberia, M. orientalis from the Caucasus, and M. sylvestris, the major secondary genetic contributor, from other parts of Europe