PLANTS CULTIVATED FOR THEIR FRUITS. 221 



it may be regarded as indigenous from prehistoric time. 

 I do not say primitive, for everything was preceded by 

 something else. I remark finally that the difference be- 

 tween bitter and sweet almonds was known to the Greeks 

 and even to the Hebrews. 



Peach — Amygdalus persica, Linnaeus ; Persica vid- 

 garis, Miller ; Pruniis persica, Bentham and Hooker. 



I will quote the article in which I formerly^ attiibuted 

 a Chinese origin to the peach, a contrary opinion to that 

 which prevailed at the time, and which people who are 

 not on a par with modern science continue to reproduce. 

 I will afterwards give the facts discovered since 1855. 



" The Greeks and Romans received the peach shortly 

 after the beginning of the Christian era. The names 

 loersica, malum persicuTn, indicate whence they had it. 

 I need not dwell upon those well-known facts.^ Several 

 kinds of peach are now culti-^ated in the north of India,^ 

 but, what is remarkable, no Sanskrit name is known ; "* 

 whence we may infer that its existence and its cultivation 

 are of no great antiquity in these regions. Roxburgh, 

 who is usually careful to give the modern Indian names, 

 onl}^ mentions Arab and Chinese names. Piddington 

 gives no Indian name, and Royle only Persian names. 

 The peach does not succeed, or requires the greatest 

 care to ensure success, in the north-east of India. ^ In 

 China, on the contrary, its cultivation dates from 

 the remotest antiquity. A number of superstitious 

 ideas and of legends about the properties of its different 

 varieties exist in that country.^ These varieties are very 



^ Alph. de Candolle, Geogr. Bot. Rais., p. 881. 



2 Theopkrastus, Hist., iv. c. 4; Dioscorides, lib. 1, c. 164; Pliny, 

 Geneva edit,, bk. 15, c. 13. 



3 Royle, III. Him., p. 204. 



* Roxburgh, Fl. Ind., 2nd. edit., ii. p. 500; Piddington, Index; Royle, 

 Hid. 



^ Sir Joseph Hooker, Journ. of Bot., 1850, p. 54. 



^ Rose, the head of the French trade at Canton, collected these from 

 Chinese manuscripts, and Noisette {Jard. Frnit., i. p. 76) has transcribed 

 a part of his article. The facts are of the following nature. The Chinese 

 believe the oval peaches, which are very red on one side, to be a symbol 

 of a long life. In consequence of this ancient belief, peaches are used 

 in all ornaments in painting and sculpture, and in congratulatory jDre- 



