2(>6 



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 lon<' 

 duration. Persia. 



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

 but tliere 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^Ris Mill. The common Peach Tree. 



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

 Synunymcs. ^myKdaliis Persica hin. Sp. 677. : Peche duveteuse, Fr. ; Pfirsche, Ger. 

 Eiigrapirigs. 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. Persica vulgaris. 



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

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

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

 September. 



Varieties. 



P. V. 1, t/ie freestone common Peach, P'eche, Fr., has the flesh of the 



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

 *t P. V. 2, the clingstone common Peach, Pavie, Fr,, has the flesh of the 



fruit adiiering to the shell of the nut. 

 ^ P. V. 2, fiore plena Hort. Flowers double. 

 afe P. r. 4 alba Lindl. Flowers white. A 



hardy ornamental shrub, with the habit 



of an almond. Its fruit has little 



merit. 

 " P. w. 5 foliis variegatis Hort. Leaves 



variegated. i;:j;^ /[ ,| 



P. V. () compressa Hort., the flat Peach i^ //v ~ 



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



ourj^i,'. 428.), is chiefly remarkable for 



the form of its fruit, and for being 



neai'ly 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. 4jg. p. ^. eon.pri^sa. 



