Mammiform Crown Base Protuberances

There's always more to know. 

Consider this the second installment in the ongoing investigation of what to call the set of bumps that sometimes grace the ridge around the calyx end of the apple.

Last month I weighed in with crown, noting that an apple usually begins its life with its calyx pointing up.

I should have attributed that to John Bunker. 

More recently, on Twitter (see, it really is good for something) @MidwestApple noted that Beech, in his 2-volume Apples of New York (1905), uses the term "mammiform" as an adjective modifying the "protuberances" and "bases" of apples.

The term is still in use today on applename.com, an online apple-ID tool that I reviewed in 2012. 

There,"beaded, mammiform" is listed as one type of "protuberances" you might find on the pomacious fruit. (Other kinds of protuberances: "Smooth, Flat;" "Ridged, Ribbed;" "Undulate, Furrowed, Wavy, Puckered.")

So a love of apples does not stunt one's vocabulary!  A reader originally raised this question in a comment.

I hope I will be forgiven for insisting that a protuberance, mammiform or otherwise, does not describe the entire formation of five bumps but rather one of its elements.

To be sure, the apple might be described as having five mammiform protuberances, but that description still does not name the thing any more than five fingers and a palm are the term for a hand.

Crown perhaps needs a bit of explaining to the lay eater (about the calyx ontogeny etc.), thus arguably not entirely satisfactory the way that stem is. 

But in an imperfect world we should take whatever acceptable tools life protrudes our way.

Bonus Links

• "Crown," first installment
• "Mammiform" in Beech volume 1, volume 2
• John Bunker
• Some online apple resources I have curated and reviewed
• My twitter channel, @adapples
• Reader comments really are the best part of this blog

Bonus Spelling Note

It's protuberance, not "protruberance." But the protuberances protrude!