This. And also, I suspect the connotations of the word are radically different. "Crabapples" to most people who speak English and don't have one, are like defective fruit trees. They're the opposite of romantic or poetic or anything they story is likely to be trying to do by including them in the first place. Calling them something that doesn't automatically tie in with all those negative western associations is a valid creative choice. I mean, yes, if you're writing a long enough story, you can try to push the boulder up the mountain with your forehead and re-write some of people's associations with the strength of what it means in your story, but it's a hell of a lot easier if people make good associations with a word they don't know, and then tie the ends together if they want to by going "huh. This beautiful tree is actually also a kind of crabapple."