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Not sure if this is a right place to ask this question, but I'll have a go.

What do you call the ends of an apple, as in, the branch side, and its opposite side where it's caved in?

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    In fruit anatomy, common terms are "stem end" and "blossom end", as in the "blossom end rot" so annoying to tomato growers.
    – MetaEd
    Jun 14, 2013 at 2:42
  • Have we got a troll here? I can't understand how anyone could closevote this as "not a real question". OP may not get a definitive answer, but there could be names for either or both parts.
    – FumbleFingers
    Jun 14, 2013 at 2:50
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    @ tim_wonil: All I can find offhand is the blossom end of (the fruit) (and the stalk end, obviously). You'd like to think there are some better words, but it doesn't look good so far. Maybe there are some exotic "dialectal/country" words floating about out there.
    – FumbleFingers
    Jun 14, 2013 at 3:12
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    @MετάEd you should turn that into an answer; here's a reference: appleparermuseum.com/AppleAnatomy.htm
    – congusbongus
    Jun 14, 2013 at 4:14
  • Ah, great. Thanks for your comments. If you turn your comments into an answer, I can accept them.
    – tim_wonil
    Jun 14, 2013 at 6:52

4 Answers 4

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The ends don't appear to have technical names, but the parts at each end do.

The stem is also called the pedicel or stalk.

The opposite end is where the stamen is located. In the second picture below, this end is also referred to as the style.

None of these terms are common outside of technical usage when discussing plant, flower, and fruit morphology. More common descriptors are stem end and tip.

By the way, some pictures will show the "calyx" (derived from "cup" or "chalice"), often at the tip end. But I believe the calyx is a depression at either end. Referring to a particular calyx requires a modifier (e.g., pedicel calyx).

enter image description here

enter image description here

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John Bunker, who is one of the key people involved in apples for FEDCO, a well-known organic seed/tree company, seems to call the dip in the top the "cavity" and the dip in the bottom the "basin" in his book Not Far From the Tree. I don't know if it's official, but it works for me.

Incidentally, looking things up about apples online is very hard because of the computer brand!

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  • Thanks for your contribution & welcome to EL&U. It would be helpful if you were able to provide a link to a relevant website or to the relevant part of the book; or, failing that, to a reference to the book. Thanks.
    – TrevorD
    Aug 24, 2013 at 16:23
  • Sorry, I haven't actually signed in in a while - I've been reading notes, but this is my first time signing back in! The book can be found at: amazon.com/Tree-History-Orchards-Palermo-1804-2004/dp/…
    – Jane
    Oct 11, 2017 at 16:27
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It is in no way specific to apples, indeed it is rarely applied to them, but poles of the apple might work.

pole
noun

  1. each of the extremities of the axis of the earth or of any spherical body.

I don't know of any specific words for each of the two poles.

EDIT:
The phrase may be uncommon, but it is apparently used from time to time; one scholarly article on sculpture used this term:

Indian sculpture is composed exclusively of inflected surfaces; concavities, like the poles of an apple, are the meeting places of convex lines (see Rawson’s analysis, 1966).

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    I have never heard of "poles" being used for apples or any other fruit/vegetable. Perhaps providing a reference would help in getting rid of your downvotes?
    – congusbongus
    Jun 14, 2013 at 8:02
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    Surely you've heard of beanpoles?
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Jun 14, 2013 at 8:19
  • @CongXu (and other downvoters): Actually, it's not that hard to find examples. My Google search (with the phrase in quotes, even), yielded a handful of hits: eating an apple ("Spare the poles of the apple till you have satisfactorily enjoyed the mid-apple, as the poles give a good grip"), drawing an apple ("...pale green around the poles of the apple"), and setting up an experiment ("cut through the field like slicing Airstriker's 'apple' in half - either along the 'poles' of the apple or through its equator.")
    – J.R.
    Jun 14, 2013 at 9:35
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Although this is an old question, I wanted to answer it, after the other answers here led me to find the specific term for the little leaves on the blossom end of the apple. These "modified leaves" are called sepals, and they form the calyx, which protects the apple blossom when it is in bud. The dry sepals remain at the blossom end after the fruit has developed. Thanks to Canis Lupis that brought up the term calyx, that led to the answer for which I personally was searching when I came upon this thread:) https://biologydictionary.net/sepal/

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