The Origins of the Domestic Apple

The botanical family to which all apples belonged first evolved about 12 million years ago. To judge from the 20-odd wild species that still exist in central and southern China,. it probably bore a small fruit with hard but edible seeds, not unlike those of its close relation to the roan tree. The seeds would have been spread by birds. A small group of species penetrated northwest through the fertile country that is now Gansu Province into the area that was to become the Tian Shan Mountains. In the foothills and valleys of the Tian Shan range, the new apple found itself in a genuine paradise. Bears, deer and wild pigs lived in the spreading woodlands eating the wild fruit in autumn