Malus domestica

 The apple, Malus domestica, is one of the oldest, if not the oldest of the domesticated fruit trees. The domesticated apple is descended from the wild apple species, M. sieversii, which is indigenous to the mountains of Central Asia, ranging from Kazakhstan to Afghanistan to Xinjiang, China. It is thought that the actual domestication of the wild apple began on the lower slopes of the Tian Shan mountains, where these wild apple trees form a unique forest with endemic walnut tree species. Sometime later, early horticulturists would hybridize these tamed wild apples with the European crabapple, M. sylvestris, so extensively that numerous populations of modern domesticated apples are actually hybrids more closely related to crabapples than they are to the ancestral M. sieversii.

The domesticated apple was introduced into the Middle East and Europe via traders during ancient times. The Ancient Greeks quickly became familiar with the apple, which featured frequently in their myths, and the Romans helped spread it throughout the rest of Europe and Northern Africa.

The apple is the quintessential dessert fruit, having been used as a dessert, both the raw fruit, and as a component in dessert recipes for thousands of years. In Chinese Food Therapy, apples are used to help counteract lung dryness, as well as a digestive aid, and as a diuretic. Apples are often used to help detoxify mild alcohol poisoning. Today, apples are often used in diabetic therapy, too.