THE DRUPE-FRUITS 125 



forms are almonds to the botanist and peaches to the pioneer, 

 and even cultivated varieties of these two fruits are not always 

 distinguished at a glance. While the fruit-grower could hardly 

 be confused by the common varieties of the drupe-fruits, he 

 very surely would be by some of the uncommon ones. Hence 

 the need of definite distinctions for the six drupe-fruits belong- 

 ing to Prunus. The following key serv^es to distinguish suffi- 

 ciently well all the forms which fruit growers are likely to see. 



KEY TO THE DEUPE-FEUITS 



Surface of fruit velvety (except in the nectarine) ; stone pitted 

 or furrowed. 

 Flesh soft, thick, juicy. 



Fruit velvety Feach 



Fruit smooth Nectarine 



Flesh hard, thin, dry Almond ^ 



Surface of fruit glabrous or nearly so. 

 Flowers clustered; stone usually smooth. 



Fruit usually large, sulcate, and covered with bloom; stone 

 compressed, longer than broad, grooved on the dorsal and 



winged on the ventral suture Plum 



Fruit usually small, round, bloomless; stone turgid, round, 



usually shorter than broad, ridged on the ventral suture. . .Cherry 

 Flowers solitary or but two; stone smooth or sometimes pitted. .4pricoi 



The Peach 



The peach constitutes but one species in Prunus, whereas 

 there are several each which furnish cultivated varieties of 

 apricots, cherries, and plums. The species has, however, been 

 divided by some botanists into several varieties, notably one to 

 include the nectarine and another the Peento peach. However, 

 these two fruits are not more distinct from the type species than 

 the red-fleshed sorts, the snowball varieties, the Yellow Trans- 

 vaals, the nippled peaches, those that are cleft and those that 

 are beaked, winter peaches, or the pot-grown dwarfs from China. 

 The nectarine, the Peento, and all the other variations of the 

 type probably originated as mutations under cultivation and all 

 probably came from the wild species, Prunus Persica. 



181. Prunus Persica, the peach, described. — There are many 

 varieties, possibly 3000, of the several pomological groups named 



1 Cultivated for its nut-like stones, scarcely a pomological product, hence not 

 to be further considered in this text. 



