126 SYSTEMATIC POMOLOGY 



in the precodiiifr paraprraph, tho characters of whicli aro becom- 

 ing interniinal)ly confused hy hyhi'idization. A (h'scription of 

 the species must include the most ])rominciit cliaracters of the 

 different prroups of cultivated peaches, and is, therefore, jriven 

 in more detail for the pomologist than would be needful for 

 the botanist. 



Prinuwi Prrsica, Stokes. (Plates III, IV.) Tree low and difTuse, branches 

 spreading, slender; twigs slender, glabrous, glossy green changing to shades 

 of red, with numerous conspicuous lenticels. Leaves 4-7 inches long, 1-2 

 inches wide, oblong-lanceolate; upper surface pale, with little or no 

 pubescence; margin serrate or crenate, tipped with glands or glandless; 

 petioles V4-1 inch long, grooved, glandless or with 1-8 globose or reniform 

 glands. Flowers from wood of a previous season; of two sizes, the smaller 

 size ranging under 1 inch in diameter, the larger 1M> inches; the floral color 

 pure white, pink, or red; pedicels very short, glabrous, green. Fruit sub- 

 globular; surface usually distinct; cavity well marked, abrupt; apex with 

 a mamelon or mucronate pit ; color varying from greenish-white to orange- 

 yellow, usually with a red cheek, sometimes covered with red; very pubes- 

 cent except in the nectarine ; skin adherent or free from the pulp ; flesh 

 greenish-white or yellowish, often stained with red at the tip, occasionally 

 red, sweet or aciduous, aromatic; stone free or clinging, elliptic or ovoid, 

 compressed, pointed ; outer surfaces wrinkled and flutedj inner surfaces 

 polished; ventral and dorsal sutures grooved or furrowed, sometimes 

 winged; the seed almond-like, aromatic, and bitter. 



182. Habitat and history of the peach. — The peach comes 

 from eastern Asia, where it noAV ^ows wild, and where it has 

 been cultivated at least as long as the earliest Chinese written 

 records, — centuries before the beginning of the Christian era. 

 The word "peach" and most of its equivalents in the countries 

 of Europe are derived from Persia, as it was supposed that the 

 fruit originated in Persia, a statement probably first made by 

 Pliny, the Roman naturalist, in Christ's time, and republished 

 by every historian of pomological plants from then until recent 

 years. Some botanists have supposed the peach to be a modified 

 almond, but there can be little doubt that the two fruits came 

 into cultivation from two wild species. 



The peach was brought to the New World by the Spaniards 

 probably on the second or third visit of Columbus. It found 

 such congenial surroundings and won so high favor with the 

 settlers and natives that it spread rapidly and wddely, in the 

 wild and under primitive cultivation, and became so common 



