The Maleae (incorrectly Pyreae) are the apple tribe in the rose family, Rosaceae. The group includes some plants bearing commercially important fruits, such as apples and pears, while others are cultivated as ornamentals. Older taxonomies separated some of this group as tribe Crataegeae,G. K. Schulze-Menz 1964. Reihe Rosales. in A. Engler's Syllabus der Pflanzenfamilien mit besonderer Berücksichtigung der Nutzpflanzen nebst einer Übersicht über die Florenreiche und Florengebiete der Erde, Gebrüder Borntraeger, Berlin as the Cydonia group (a tentative placement), or some genera were placed in family Quillajaceae.
The tribe consists exclusively of shrubs and small trees. Most have pomes, a type of accessory fruit that does not occur in other Rosaceae. All except Vauquelinia (with 15 chromosomes) have a basal haploid chromosome count of 17, instead of 7, 8, or 9 as in the other Rosaceae.
There are approximately 28 genera that contain about 1100 species worldwide, with most species occurring in the temperate Northern Hemisphere.
Current classification
Core members of the group A traditional circumscription of Maleae includes the following genera:
Amelanchier - serviceberry, juneberry, saskatoon, sugarplum Aria - whitebeam Aronia - chokeberry Chaenomeles - Japanese quince Chamaemeles Chamaemespilus - false medlar Cormus - service tree Cydonia - quince Dichotomanthes Docynia Docyniopsis Eriobotrya -loquat Eriolobus Hesperomeles Heteromeles - toyon Malacomeles - false serviceberry Malus - apple, crabapple Osteomeles Peraphyllum - wild crab apple, squaw apple Phippsiomeles Photinia Pourthiaea Pseudocydonia - Chinese quince Pyrus - pear Rhaphiolepis - hawthorn Sorbus (s.s.) - rowan Stranvaesia Torminalis - chequer tree
intergeneric hybrids:Stace, C. A. 1975. Hybridization and the flora of the British Isles. Academic Press, London. × Amelasorbus × Malosorbus × Sorbaronia × Sorbopyrus
and graft chimeras: + Pyrocydonia (Pirocydonia)
Tribe Crataegeae A recent taxonomic treatment includes the following genera in Maleae that were earlier separated as tribe Crataegeae (or as intertribe hybrids):Potter, D.; Eriksson, T.; Evans, R.C.; Oh, S.H.; Smedmark, J.E.E.; Morgan, D.R.; Kerr, M.; Robertson, K.R.; Arsenault, M.P.; Dickinson, T.A.; Campbell, C.S. (2007). Phylogeny and classification of Rosaceae. Plant Systematics and Evolution. 266(1–2): 5–43.
Cotoneaster - cotoneaster Crataegus - hawthorn Mespilus - medlar Pyracantha - firethorn
intergeneric (including intertribal) hybrids: × Crataemespilus × Crataegosorbus × Sorbocotoneaster
and the graft hybrid: + Crataegomespilus
Former members of family Quillajaceae The following genera were previously placed in tribe Quillajeae in Rosaceae, or in family Quillajaceae. Their fruit is dry capsules, not pomes. Kageneckia Vauquelinia Lindleya
The Cydonia group The Cydonia group within the Maloid Rosaceae was a tentative grouping of pome-fruited genera with many ovules (rather than just two) per carpel. The genera involved were: Cydonia Chaenomeles Docynia Pseudocydonia
It is not yet clear whether this group is monophyletic within the Maleae. Molecular data indicate a close relationship between Cydonia and Pseudocydonia. Multiple ovules per carpel also occur in Kageneckia, a non-pome-bearing genus. Chloroplast DNA analysis, but not nuclear DNA, shows a tight relationship between Cydonia and Dichotomanthes, a non-pome-bearing genus.
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