THE DRUPE-FRUITS 



131 



Fruit, continued 



Shipping Quality, con'hnued 



Compressed long or opposite 



sutures 



Halves equal or unequal 

 Cavity 



Deep, medium, shallow 



Wide, medium, narrow 



Eegular, irregular 



Flaring, abrupt 



SUTTJRE 



Shallow, medium, deep 



Distinct, indistinct 



A mere line, lacking 

 Apex 



Prolonged tip, short tip 



Eoundish, flattened, depressed 

 Color 



Red, yellow, green 



Crimson, white 



Mottled, blushed, striped 

 Pubescence 



Long, medium, short 



Thick, medium, thin 



Skin 



Thick, medium, thin 



Tough, medium, tender 



Adherent, semi-free, free 

 Flesh 



Red, white, green, yellow 



Juicy, medium, rather dry 



Coarse, fine-grained, stringy 



Firm, melting 



Sweet, subacid 



Sour, sprightly, aromatic 

 Quality 



Best, very good, good 



Fair, poor, very poor 

 Stone 



Free, semi-cling, cling 



Large, medium, small 



Ovate, roundish, flattened 



Obovate, oval, plump 



Conspicuously winged, grooved 



Pointed, blunt, oblique 



Smooth, corrugated, pitted 

 Use 



Dessert, kitchen 



Market, home 



Remarks 



186. The nectarine. — The nectarine is a smooth-skinned peach 

 (Plate V). Some botanists put it in a distinct species; thus 

 DeCandole called it Persica Icevis. Many botanists prefer to 

 make it a botanical variety of the peach under the name Prumis 

 Persica var. nucipersica, but nectarines often come from seeds 

 of peaches, and peaches arise from seeds of nectarines; so, too, 

 peaches are often borne on nectarine trees and nectarines on 

 peach trees, so that either may originate from the other by means 

 of bud-variation. The trees of the nectarine differ not at all 

 from those of the peach, and, apart from the smooth skin, the 

 only distinguishable marks between the fruits are smaller size, 

 firmer flesh, and a distinct and richer flavor in the fruits of 

 the nectarine. Dryness of flesh, aroma, and the flavor seem to 

 be correlated with the smooth skin. 



In the nectarine, as in the peach, there are free-stone and 

 cling-stone sorts ; both fruits have varieties with red, yellow, or 

 white flesh ; the flowers of both may be large or small ; nectarine 

 leaves in one variety or another show all of the variation in 

 glands and serrations known in the peach ; the stones and kernels 



