SLB #8: Crab Apple - Forager's Delight!
(previously called Crab Apple: Forager's Delight!
The cache is now incorporated as the 8th of a 10-cache series circuiting through some fine countryside to the west of Burley-in-Wharfedale.
For background info on the trail including a Map (also available in this cache's Gallery) showing caches and parking spots, and waypoints for parking | trail access, see GC7E48T SLB#1: What a Tip!.
The cache, a small camo-taped screw-capped plastic pot, is hidden in this fine old tree just off the old footpath/jeep track leading from Saxon Lodge (previously the Mount Lodge) on Coutances Road (A65) passing Rowley Wood and continuing up to The Mount at Stead and Wharfedale Grange Farm located towards the upper end of Ben Rhydding Drive. At various points along the path, there are fine panoramic views to the north, and along the Wharfe Valley.
To reach the cache location: see GC8Q1MT Railway Bridge Short Multi for how to reach the rail bridge and from there pass under the bridge, through the gate, and take the track heading up to the north-west and on to the cache location.
The Lodge and the Mount were both built around 1780 and the track was the link between the main Skipton-Otley turnpike and the large residence and adjacent 17th century (?) farm up on Mount Stead (see OS 1851 map in the Gallery).
The (European) crab apple (Malus sylvestris meaning forest apple) is a symbol of fertility and a forager's delight. It is associated with love and marriage and its small, hard fruits make a delicious jewel-coloured jelly.
One of the ancestors of the cultivated apple (of which there are more than 6,000 varieties), it can live to up to 100 years. Mature trees grow to around 10m in height with a trunk 23-45cm diameter. They have an irregular, rounded shape and a wide, spreading canopy.
It thrives in heavy, moist, well-drained soil and areas of scrub and is found throughout Europe. Due to its weak competitiveness and high light requirement, it is found mostly at the wet edge of forests, in farmland hedges or on very extreme, marginal sites. It is rather rare but native to most European countries occurring in a scattered distribution pattern as single individuals or in small groups. Many cultivars are available for use in parks & gardens.
With greyish brown, flecked bark, trees can become quite gnarled and twisted, especially when exposed, and the twigs often develop spines. This 'crabbed' appearance may have influenced its common name, 'crab apple'. It is one of the few host trees to the parasitic mistletoe, Viscum album, and it is often covered in lichens.
In winter, it can be identified by the edges of the bud scales which have a short row of hairs.
The brown and pointed leaf buds form on short stalks and have downy hair on their tips. These are followed by glossy, oval leaves which grow to 6cm long and have rounded teeth margins.
In spring, the sweetly scented hermaphrodite flowers which can range from pure white to deep pink are 
pollinated by bees and other insects. The blossom develops into small, yellow-green (can also be red) apple-like fruits around 2–3cm across.
Value to wildlife: The leaves are food for the caterpillars of many moths, including the eyed hawk-moth, green pug, Chinese character and pale tussock. Its flowers provide an important source of early pollen and nectar for insects, particularly bees, and the fruit is eaten by birds, including blackbirds, thrushes and crows, and mammals, such as mice, voles, foxes and badgers.
Mythology and symbolism: it has long been associated with love and marriage. It was said that if you throw the pips into the fire while saying the name of your love, the love is true if the pips explode. Apple wood was burned by the Celts during fertility rites and festivals, and Shakespeare made reference to crab apples in A Midsummer Night's Dream and Love's Labour Lost.
The Celts believed the apple to be associated with rebirth and were said to bury apples in graves as food for the dead, a practice that is shown to date back over 7,000 years to Europe and West Asia where petrified remains of sliced apple have been found in tombs from 5,000BC.
In the Judeo-Christian tradition, the apple tree is associated with knowledge, immortality, temptation and the fall of man. The apple tree is believed to be the tree of forbidden knowledge, the tree from which Eve ate the forbidden fruit – although the forbidden fruit is not actually named in the Bible and would more likely have been a fig or pomegranate.
In Latin, the word for an apple is mālum and the word for evil is mălum. This could have contributed to the common western belief that the apple was the forbidden fruit of the Garden of Eden.
In Greek mythology the apple tree was at the centre of the garden of the Hesperides, a tree belonging to Hera, bearing magical golden fruit which gave the gift of immortality to those who ate it.
Similarly, in Norse mythology, the apple tree was the tree of immortality and the goddess Idunn, keeper of apples, fed the apples to all the gods and goddesses, keeping them young forever. See here for comprehensive coverage of apple symbolism in history around the world.
There are so many myths, legends, stories and traditions associated with the apple but the only apple native to Ireland and the British Isles is the crab apple.
The common apple we know now was most likely introduced to this area of the world by the Romans. So, Celtic lore when it speaks of ‘apple’ would in all likelihood mean crab apple.
Crab apples were known as wild apples in Ireland and were listed as one of the seven ‘Nobles of the Wood’, believed to be an important food source since the first humans set foot in the country.
Traditionally, crab apples were made into wine, cider and juice, but were also used to flavour mead.
Modern Folklore: there are many references to the apple in present society–people are either good apples or bad apple. One bad apple will spoil the bunch. Newton was apparently hit on the head with an apple and that led to his insight on the theory of gravity. The Buddah gained enlightenment under an apple tree–as did the Merlin in some Arthurian folklore. Snow white was, of course, seduced with a poison apple. An apple a day keeps the doctor away. In this folklore, good apples are tied to insight, fertility, and health, while bad apples will lead to ruin and poor health.
Uses: it is are often planted in commercial orchards as their long flowering period makes them excellent 
pollination partners for cultivated apples. The fruit can be roasted and served with meat or added to ales or punches. More commonly, it is used to make crab apple jelly and as a natural source of pectin for setting jams.
For crab apples recipes, see here (liqueur), here (pickled - great with roast meats!) and here / here (jelly - wonderful on toast or with cold meats - especially with a little added chilli!).
The pinkish wood has an even texture and makes good quality timber, lending itself particularly well to carving and turning. It also makes a sweetly scented firewood. In Ireland, a yellow 
dye was extracted from the bark to colour wool.
Threats and conservation: it is susceptible to a variety of fungal infections, including apple scab, honey fungus and apple canker. The bacterial disease fireblight gives the fruit the appearance of being scorched. These threats can easily spread to cultivated apple trees and will eventually reduce the health of these.
See here for more information on this fascinating and useful tree.
The fruits may be flushed with red or white spots when ripe and are eaten by birds and mammals which disperse the seeds.
See here for a short video on a year in the life of the tree, and tree for a video on key features and interesting facts.
Finally, the following extract of a 20/9/18 Guardian article Country diary: delving deeper into crab apples' DNA relating to an old crab apple tree in Prince Bishop's Deer Park, Bishop Auckland, County Durham could easily apply to this fine old tree:.
' . . . it is a beautiful old specimen, which lights up its secluded valley in spring with an exuberant display of blossom that belies its age. It plays host to countless insects that collect its nectar and pollen, or feed on its leaves and fruit. But its days are numbered; large branches are dying, its trunk is hollow. An autumn gale might easily deliver a fatal blow. Grazing sheep prevent natural regeneration by its seedlings . . .'