In a warming world, Central Asian trees might satisfy global appetite for apples

The World

From apple pie on Thanksgiving Day to Johnny Appleseed stories passed down for generations, the apple has been a symbol of American culture. But the first apples actually originated halfway around the world, below the towering, snow-capped mountains of Central Asia in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. And now, wild apples growing in that very region might be the key to ensuring the long-term survival of a fruit whose genetic diversity consists of more than a century of agricultural cultivation practices.

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