Hi,

You've got me stumped, but I'm wondering if the people at the The Southern Heritage Apple Orchard at Horne Creek Farm might know. They have Lee Calhoun's sizeable collection of southern apples, and they might be able to help. 

Cheers,

katmendeux

Unfortunately they need fruit samples before going anywhere trying to judge what this might be. For example even all other species of malus show similar flowers to domestic apples. Having said all the negative there is one positive cue that I noticed regarding early flowers. Certain very hardy species of the north such as malus bacatta have less chill hours than malus domestica, which is (in the latter case) what I think your 3 others are for blooming last. I have grafted a malus baccata here in the heights on malus 'winter banana', which (the former) blooms way too early compared to the latter. I also have grafted a hybrid (baccata x 'domestica mix') cultivar 'palmetta' into same tree. This inter-specific mixing of low and high chill hours still mostly dominates from hardy malus ancestry because it also is very early compared to winter banana apple. Wild ancestry usually dominates anyways.

I had already removed my malus baccata. Gone now, but had I left it I might have been able to speed up some flowering and sent you some pollen in the mail maybe. And because malus baccata produces less than crabapple size fruit (pea size) we could have possibly solved this. This pea size fruit and big flower seems funny but true. 

It's also true about wild species being dominant, and in the works of Ivan Michurin this dominance in and of malus baccata was specifically noted.

I am making a special research trip to Alaska in the space of one day in the first week of March, but it's below freezing still which isn't of any help unless you need a malus baccata scion sent to you for next seasons crosses.