How far can an apple fall?

There is a proverb that is often cited - the apple does not fall far from the tree, to mean children resemble their parents.

According to Wolfgang Mieder from the Department of German and Russian at the University of Vermont, the proverb is of German origin. Der Apfel fällt nicht weit vom Stamm.

It is also a common Hebrew proverb. .התפוח לא נופל רחוק מהעץ

Well, the apple (any random one on an apple tree), is not going to fall any further than the height of the tree, assuming that the tree is not situated on a slope.

The apple tree, Malus domestica reaches a height of between three to 12 metres (10 to 39 feet) so the most an apple will fall, assuming the tree is growing on flat ground, is 12 metres.

So basically the literal meaning of the phrase is true most of the time. Duh!

How this has anything to with children being similar to their parents is quite perplexing. Some children are nothing like their parents.