AMYGDALUS PERSICA-PEACH TREE, 



CLASS, ICOSANDR1A ; ORDER, MONOGVNIA. 

 NATURAL ORDER, ROSACES. 



GEN. CHAR. Calyx, quinquefid, inferior. Petals, five. Drupe, 

 having a shell perforated with pores. Skin, pubescent. SPEC. 

 CHAR. Leaves, having all acute serratures. Flowers, sessile and 

 solitary. 



Like the most of our fruit bearing tubes, this tree is a native of 

 the East, and was first brought to Rome from Persia, during the 

 reign of the Emperor Claudius. It was an old saying that this tree 

 in Meadia, was unwholesome, but when planted in Egypt, became 

 pulpy, delicious and salubrious. 



The Peach-tree, in point of stature, is under the middle size ; it 

 is of such rapid growth that its spreading branches soon shade a 

 considerable space of ground. The leaves are very smooth, lance- 

 shaped, and serrated on the margins. The flowers come directly 

 out from the bough, without the support of a foot-stalk ; the cup is 

 of a greenish red ; the blossom itself of a delicate crimson, vary- 

 ing in different flowers, from light to dark ; they are in bloom in 

 April ; the fruit ripening from July to the beginning of October, 

 and sometimes later. 



The generic name is derived from the Greek, meaning to lanci- 

 nate, because when the green husk is removed from the fruit, the 



shell is found covered with lacerations ; the specific name of course 

 C 



