Herb: Squaw Apple


Latin name: Peraphyllum ramosissimum


Family: Rosaceae (Rose Family)



Edible parts of Squaw Apple:

Fruit - raw or cooked. Sour when unripe, the fruits are slightly bitter as they ripen and when fully ripe are sweetish but with a bitter after-taste. Those fruits that have fully ripened and dried on the plant are the sweetest and most desirable. Ripe fruits can also be used in making jellies or prepared like spiced crab apples. Fruits are rarely borne in Britain.

Description of the plant:



Plant:
Deciduous
Shrub

Height:
180 cm
(6 feet)

Flowering:
April
to May

Habitat of the herb:

Dry hillsides.

Propagation of Squaw Apple:

Seed - we have no information on this species but suggest sowing the seed in a cold frame as soon as it is ripe if this is possible otherwise as soon as stored seed is received. Stored seed is likely to require a period of cold stratification. Prick out the seedlings into individual pots when they are large enough to handle and grow them on in the greenhouse or cold frame for their first winter, planting out in late spring. Layering in spring. Takes 12 months.

Cultivation of the herb:

Dry hillsides.

Medicinal use of Squaw Apple:

None known

Known hazards of Peraphyllum ramosissimum:

None known

Plant information taken from the Plants For A Future.