<P> Blossoms are produced in spring simultaneously with the budding of the leaves, and are produced on spurs and some long shoots . The 3 to 4 cm (1.2 to 1.6 in) flowers are white with a pink tinge that gradually fades, five petaled, with an inflorescence consisting of a cyme with 4--6 flowers . The central flower of the inflorescence is called the "king bloom"; it opens first, and can develop a larger fruit . </P> <P> The fruit matures in late summer or autumn, and cultivars exist with a wide range of sizes . Commercial growers aim to produce an apple that is 2 ⁄ to 3 ⁄ in (7.0 to 8.3 cm) in diameter, due to market preference . Some consumers, especially those in Japan, prefer a larger apple, while apples below 2 ⁄ in (5.7 cm) are generally used for making juice and have little fresh market value . The skin of ripe apples is generally red, yellow, green, pink, or russetted although many bi - or tri-colored cultivars may be found . The skin may also be wholly or partly russeted i.e. rough and brown . The skin is covered in a protective layer of epicuticular wax . The exocarp (flesh) is generally pale yellowish - white, though pink or yellow exocarps also occur . </P> <P> The original wild ancestor of Malus pumila was Malus sieversii, found growing wild in the mountains of Central Asia in southern Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Xinjiang, China . Cultivation of the species, most likely beginning on the forested flanks of the Tian Shan mountains, progressed over a long period of time and permitted secondary introgression of genes from other species into the open - pollinated seeds . Significant exchange with Malus sylvestris, the crabapple, resulted in current populations of apples being more related to crabapples than to the more morphologically similar progenitor Malus sieversii . In strains without recent admixture the contribution of the latter predominates . </P> <P> In 2010, an Italian - led consortium announced they had sequenced the complete genome of the apple in collaboration with horticultural genomicists at Washington State University, using' Golden Delicious' . It had about 57,000 genes, the highest number of any plant genome studied to date and more genes than the human genome (about 30,000). This new understanding of the apple genome will help scientists in identifying genes and gene variants that contribute to resistance to disease and drought, and other desirable characteristics . Understanding the genes behind these characteristics will allow scientists to perform more knowledgeable selective breeding . The genome sequence also provided proof that Malus sieversii was the wild ancestor of the domestic apple--an issue that had been long - debated in the scientific community . </P>

Where did the first apple seed come from
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