Malus sylvestris to most European countries. It occurs in a scattered distribution pattern as single individuals or in small groups. In the past "M. sylvestris" was thought to be the most important ancestor of the cultivated apple ("M. pumila"), which has since been shown to have been originally derived from the central Asian species "M. sieversii". However another recent DNA analysis confirms that "M. sylvestris" has contributed significantly to the genome. The study found that secondary introgression from other species of the genus "Malus" has greatly shaped the genome of "M. pumila", with "M. sylvestris" being the largest secondary contributor. It also
Étienne-Louis Malus Étienne-Louis Malus Étienne-Louis Malus (; ; 23 July 1775 – 24 February 1812) was a French officer, engineer, physicist, and mathematician. Malus was born in Paris, France. He participated in Napoleon's expedition into Egypt (1798 to 1801) and was a member of the mathematics section of the Institut d'Égypte. Malus became a member of the Académie des Sciences in 1810. In 1810 the Royal Society of London awarded him the Rumford Medal. His mathematical work was almost entirely concerned with the study of light. He studied geometric systems called "ray systems", closely connected to Julius Plücker's "line geometry". He conducted