Chap. X. APKICOTS. 3G5 



varieties are now known in England, varying from pure white, 

 througli rose, to intense crimson.'^* One of these varieties, called 

 the camellia-flowered, bears flowers above 2i inches in diameter, 

 whilst those of the frnit-hearing kinds do not at most exceed li 

 inch in diameter. The flowers of the double-flowered peaches have 

 the singular property'"' of frequently producing double or treble 

 fruit. Finally, there is good reason to believe that the peach is an 

 almond profoundly modified; but whatever its origin may have 

 been, there can be no doubt that it has yielded dui'ing the last 

 eighteen centuries many varieties, some of them strongly charac- 

 terised, belonging both to the nectarine and peach form. 



Aprkot (FruMis nrnuniucn). — It is commonly admitted that this 

 tree is descended from a single species, now found wild in the 

 Caucasian region.'^'' On this view the varieties deser^-e notice, 

 because they illustrate diflerences supposed by some botanists to 

 be of specific value in the almond and plum. The best monograph 

 on the apricot is by Mr. Thompson,'" who describes seventeen 

 varieties. We have seen that peaches and nectarines vary in a 

 strictly parallel manner ; and in the apricot, which forms a closely 

 allied genus, we again meet with variations analogous to those of 

 the peach, as well as to those of the plum. The varieties differ 

 considerably in the shape of their leaves, which are either serrated 

 or crenated, sometimes with ear like appendages at their bases, 

 and sometimes with glands on the jjetioles. The flowers are 

 generally alike, but are small in the Masculine. The fruit varies 

 much in size, shape, and in having the suture little pronounced 

 or absent ; in the skin being smooth, or downy, as in the orange- 

 apricot; and in the flesh clinging to the stone, as in the last- 

 mentioned kind, or in readily separating from it, as in the 

 Turkey-apricot. In all these differences we see the closest analogy 

 with the varieties of the peach and nectarine. In the stone we 

 have more important differences, and these in the case of the plum 

 have been esteemed of specific value : in some apricots the stone is 

 almost spherical, in others much flattened, being either sharp in 

 front or blunt at both ends, sometimes channelled along the back, 

 or with a sharp ridge along both margins. In the Moorpark, and 

 generally in the Hemskirke, the stone presents a singular character 

 in being perforated, with a bundle of fibres passing through the 

 perforation from end to end. The most constant and important 

 character, according to Thompson, is whether the kernel is bitter 

 or sweet : yet in this respect we have a graduated difference, for 

 the kernel is very bitter in Shipley's apricot; in the Hemskirke 

 less bitter than in some other kinds ; slightly bitter in the Koyal ; 

 and " sweet like a hazel-nut " in the Breda, Angoumois, and others. 



" ' Gardener's Chrouirle,' 1857, p. Bot.,' p. 879. 

 216. •" ''Transact. Hort. Soc' (2nd 



*^ 'Journal of Hort. Soc.,' vol. ii. series), vol. i. 18:i.5, p. .56. See also 



p. 283. ' Cat. of I''ruit in Garden of Hort. See.,'' 



66 



Alph. de Candolle, ' Geograph. 3rd edit. 18-4j 



