Iowa crab or prairie crab apple. The upper surface of the leaves is typically dark green, shiny and smooth, while the lower surface is pale with white, densely matted hairs. The fruit of this shrub is of considerable value as a wildlife food. It is eaten by at least 20 species of birds and mammals, including foxes, skunks, opossum, raccoon, cottontail rabbits, woodchucks, fox squirrels and white-tailed deer.
Songbirds use the Iowa crab's dense thickets for nesting.
This species is currently one of several shrubs the Forest Preserve is planting in restored woodlands to replace non-native common buckthorn.