Malus sylvestris found that current populations of "M. pumila" are more closely related to "M. sylvestris" than to "M. sieversii". However, in more pure strains of "M. pumila" the "M. sieversii" ancestry still predominates. The flowers are hermaphrodite and are pollinated by insects. Its leaves are food of the caterpillars of the twin-spotted sphinx ("Smerinthus jamaicensis") and possibly the hawthorn moth ("Scythropia crataegella"). Malus sylvestris Malus sylvestris, the European crab apple, is a species of the genus "Malus", native to Europe. Its scientific name means "forest apple" and the truly wild tree has thorns. Wild apple has an expanded crown and often
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