APPLE

The apple tree (Malus pumila, commonly and erroneously called Malus domestica) is a deciduous tree in the rose family best known for its sweet, pomaceous fruit, the apple. It is cultivated worldwide as a fruit tree, and is the most widely grown species in the genus Malus. The tree originated in Central Asia, where its wild ancestor, Malus sieversii, is still found today. Apples have been grown for thousands of years in Asia and Europe, and were brought to North America by European colonists. Apples have religious and mythological significance in many cultures, including Norse, Greek and European Christian traditions.

Apple trees are large if grown from seed. Generally, apple cultivars are propagated by grafting onto rootstocks, which control the size of the resulting tree. There are more than 7,500 known cultivars of apples, resulting in a range of desired characteristics. Different cultivars are bred for various tastes and uses, including cooking, eating raw and cider production. Trees and fruit are prone to a number of fungal, bacterial and pest problems, which can be controlled by a number of organic and non-organic means. In 2010, the fruit's genome was sequenced as part of research on disease control and selective breeding in apple production.

Worldwide production of apples in 2014 was 84.6 million tonnes, with China accounting for 48% of the total.

Apple (symbolism)

Apples appear in many religious traditions, often as a mystical or forbidden fruit. One of the problems identifying apples in religion, mythology and folktales is that as late as the 17th century, the word "apple" was used as a generic term for all (foreign) fruit other than berries, but including nuts. This term may even have extended to plant galls, as they were thought to be of plant origin (see oak apple). For instance, when tomatoes were introduced into Europe, they were called "love apples". In one Old English work, cucumbers are called eorþæppla (lit. "earth-apples'), just as in French, Dutch, Hebrew, Persian and Swiss German as well as several other German dialects, the words for potatoes mean "earth-apples" in English. In some languages, oranges are called "golden apples" or "Chinese apples". Datura is called 'thorn-apple".

Mythology and religion

Though the forbidden fruit in the Book of Genesis is not identified, popular Christian tradition holds that Adam and Eve ate an apple from the forbidden tree in the Garden of Eden. This may have been the result of Renaissance painters adding elements of Greek mythology into biblical scenes. The unnamed fruit of Eden thus became an apple under the influence of the story of the golden apples in the Garden of Hesperides. As a result, the apple became a symbol for knowledge, immortality, temptation, the fall of man and sin.

The Ancient Greek word "μήλον" (mēlon), now a loanword in English as melon or water melon did not mean, in Homer's time, apple, the pomaceous fruit, but sheep or goat. In Latin, the words for 'apple' ("mālum") and for 'evil' ("mălum") are nearly identical. This may also have influenced the apple's becoming interpreted as the biblical 'forbidden fruit' in the commonly used Latin translation called "Vulgate". The larynx in the human throat has been called Adam's apple because of the folk tale that the bulge was caused by the forbidden fruit sticking in the throat of Adam. The apple as symbol of sexual seduction has sometimes been used to imply sexuality between men, possibly in an ironic vein.

The notion of the apple as a symbol of sin is reflected in artistic renderings of the fall from Eden. When held in Adam's hand, the apple symbolises sin. But, when Christ is portrayed holding an apple, he represents the Second Adam who brings life. This difference reflects the evolution of the symbol in Christianity. In the Old Testament, the apple was significant of the fall of man; in the New Testament, it is an emblem of the redemption from that fall. The apple is represented in pictures of the Madonna and Infant Jesus as another sign of that redemption.

Legends, folklore, and traditions

• Apples feature frequently in fairy tales. A well-known example is the Brothers Grimm tale "Snow White", in which Snow White's evil stepmother offers her a poisonous apple which puts her to sleep. Another evil stepmother maliciously offers her stepchild an apple in another Brothers Grimm fairy tale, "The Juniper Tree". In Le piacevoli notti (The Facetious Nights) by Giovanni Francesco Straparola, apples appear in four stories.
• Savior of the Apple Feast Day is celebrated on August 19 in Russia and Ukraine.
• A boatbuilder's superstition holds that it is unlucky to build a boat out of wood from an apple tree because this wood was previously used to manufacture coffins.
• Swiss folklore holds that William Tell shot an apple from his son's head with his crossbow.
• Irish folklore claims that if an apple is peeled into one continuous ribbon and thrown behind a woman's shoulder, it will land in the shape of the future husband's initials.
• According to popular legend, upon witnessing an apple fall from its tree, Isaac Newton was inspired to conclude that a similar 'universal gravitation' attracted the moon toward the Earth. (This legend is discussed in more detail in the article on Isaac Newton).
• In the United States, Denmark and Sweden, a fresh, polished apple was a traditional children's gift for a teacher, starting in the 19th century. The symbol of an apple is still strongly associated with teachers to this day, with apples being a popular theme for gifts and awards given to exemplary teachers.
• New York City is often called "The Big Apple." The term "The Big Apple" was coined by touring jazz musicians and horse racers of the 1920s who used the slang expression "apple" for any town or city. Therefore, to play New York City is to play the big time - The Big Apple.
• "Comparing apples and oranges" means to examine the similarities of things that are completely different; in German and Dutch the corresponding expression is "comparing apples with pears".
• "An apple a day keeps the doctor away" is a popular saying, the apple obviously symbolizing health, but also the advantages of eating fresh fruit.
• "Apples and Pears", Cockney rhyming slang for stairs
• Johnny Appleseed is said to have wandered the early United States planting apple trees by leaving seeds wherever he went.
• The Macintosh project was begun in 1979 by Jef Raskin, an Apple employee who envisioned an easy-to-use, low-cost computer for the average consumer. He wanted to name the computer after his favorite type of apple, the McIntosh, but the spelling was changed to "Macintosh" for legal reasons as the original was the same spelling as that used by McIntosh Laboratory, Inc., the audio equipment manufacturer. Steve Jobs requested that McIntosh Laboratory give Apple a release for the name with its changed spelling so that Apple could use it, but the request was denied, forcing Apple to eventually buy the rights to use the name. (A 1984 Byte Magazine article suggested Apple changed the spelling only after "early users" misspelled "McIntosh". However, Jef Raskin had adopted the "Macintosh" spelling by 1981, when the Macintosh computer was still a single prototype machine in the lab. This explanation further clashes with the first explanation given above that the change was made for "legal reasons.")
• The Son of Man (French: Le fils de l'homme) is a 1964 painting by the Belgian surrealist painter René Magritte. Magritte painted it as a self-portrait. The painting consists of a man in an overcoat and a bowler hat standing in front of a low wall, beyond which is the sea and a cloudy sky. The man's face is largely obscured by a hovering green apple. However, the man's eyes can be seen peeking over the edge of the apple. Another subtle feature is that the man's left arm appears to bend backwards at the elbow.