266 



ARBORETUM ET FRUTICETUM BRITANNICUM. 



Flowers almost sessile, solitary, or twin, rising from the scaly buds earlier 



than the leaves. Tree, deciduous, beneath the middle size, and not of long 



duration. Persia. 



The peach and the nectarine are by some botanists made distinct species ; 

 but there can be no doubt of their being only varieties of one kind, which 

 kind is itself nothing more than an improved or fleshy almond ; the almond 

 being to the peach and nectarine what the crab is to the apple, and the sloe to 

 the plum. 



1 . P. VULGA V RIS Mill. The common Peach Tree. 



Identification. Mill. Diet, No. 1. ; Dec. Prod., 2. p. 531. ; Don's Mill., 2. p. 483. 

 Synonymes. Jmygdalus Persica Lin. Sp. 677. : Peche duveteuse, Fr. ; Pfirsche, Gcr. 

 Engravings. N. Du Ham., 1. 2 8. ; Nois. Jard. Fruit. Icon. ; the plate of this tree in Arb. Brit., 

 1st edit, vol. vi. ; and our Jig. 427. 



427. P&rsica vulgiris. 



Spec. Char., fyc. Fruit clothed with velvety tomentum. A deciduous tree 

 Persia. Height 20 ft. to 30 ft. Cultivated in 1562, or probably long before. 

 Flowers rose-coloured ; March and April. Fruit red and yellow ; ripe in 

 September. 



Varieties. 



% P. v. 1, the freestone common Peachy Peche, Fr., has the flesh of the 



fruit parting, from the shell of the nut (the stone). 

 *i P. v. 2, the clingstone common Peach, Pavie, Fr. y has the flesh of the 



fruit adhering to the shell of the nut. 

 X P. v. Sfldre pleno Hort. Flowers double. 

 s& P. v. 4 alba Lindl. Flowers white. A 



hardy ornamental shrub, with the habit 



of an almond. Its fruit has little 



merit. 

 J P. v. 5 foliis variegdtis Hort. Leaves 



variegated. 

 * P. v. 6 compressa Hort., the flat Peach 



of China (Hort. Trans, iv. t. 19. ; and 



ourjtfg. 428.), is chiefly remarkable for 



the form of its fruit, and for being 



nearly evergreen in its leaves. In the 



Hort. Soc. Garden, against a wall, it 



keeps growing throughout the winter, 



when the weather is not too severe. 42 s. 



