84 Fruits and Fruit- Trees. 



known as the "flat peach ;" this on account of its seem- 

 ing as if compressed vertically, so as to be converted into 

 a ring of flesh, the stone in the middle, like the boss of 

 an ancient round shield. Common with the Celestials, 

 it constantly appears in Chinese drawings : in England it 

 is grown as a curiosity. 



The peach has, until quite recently, always been 

 considered indigenous to Persia. That in some inferior 

 form this fruit was conveyed from south-western Asia 

 to Rome during the reign of the emperor Claudius, 

 say some time during the first half-century of the 

 Christian era, as stated by Pliny, making at that period 

 its first appearance in Europe, there is no reason to 

 doubt. It was in consequence of this transit that the 

 name of malum Persicum was bestowed upon it, or 

 perhaps Persicum arbor, whence, by slow degrees, and 

 after many vicissitudes, represented in pesca, pesche, 

 peshe, peche, etc, our own word "peach." That the 

 peach-tree grows apparently wild, and in great profu- 

 sion, in and about northern Persia is also undeniable. 

 The researches of Decandolle go to prove, however, 

 that the veritable native country is China, where the tree 

 has been cultivated from the remotest antiquity, and 

 from which it would, in process of time, move west- 

 wards. Had it existed originally in Persia and Armenia, 

 Greece and Rome would assuredly have known of it 

 sooner, and references to it would have occurred in the 

 literature of the last-named nations, whereas they are 

 perfectly silent. 



