120 DESCRIPTIVE BOTANY. 



4. P. Armeniaca, Willd. (Apricot.) Calyx 5-cleft, regular, falling ; petals 

 spreading ; stamens 15 to 30. Fruit a drupe, tieshy, usually glaucous, covered 

 with bloom ; the pit or nucleus ovate, compressed, smooth ; kernel shape of 

 the shell. Small tree. Stem 4 to 5 feet to the point of ramification, and 3 to 

 5 inches in diameter. Branches numerous, spreading, forming an open head ; 

 whole tree 10 to 20 feet high, and about 15 in diameter througli the head. 

 Leaves ovate, acuminate, subcordate at the base, denticulate conduplicate in 

 the bud. Flowers sessile and solitary, white, appearing before the foliage ; 

 petioles with one or more glands each. Fruit yellow. It flowers in April and 

 fruits in July and August. 



There are many varieties of this tree. Nurserymen in the United States 

 catalogue 120, based upon some form or quality of the fruit. 



Geography. — The geographical zone of the apricot is tropical and subtrop- 

 ical, reaching as far north in 

 Europe as the 40th parallel, and 

 in America to the 38th. 



It has become very widely 

 spread in Asia, Armenia, Persia, 

 China, and Japan. Its great 

 abundance and high quality in 

 Armenia led the early botanists 

 to suppose it indigenous there, 

 but it is quite as common both 

 in China and Japan, and in the 

 latter country the tree grows to 

 a larger size than elsewhere. 

 It grows well in the Southern 

 Prunus Armeniaca (Breda Aiuicot). United States, and especially in 



California, w^here it is canned 

 in large quantities for the eastern market. 



Ett/molu(/t/. — The specific name indicates that the Greeks and Romans 

 received it from Armenia, and therefore called it Armeniaca. Apricot seems 

 to be derived from the Latin words pnecox, early, and arbor, tree, early tree, 

 on account of the early ripening of the fruit. 



History. — The apricot was carried into Europe about the beginning of the 

 first century of the Christian era. It is supposed to be a native of China 

 as well as of western Asia. It attains to great perfection in Persia ; and on 

 account of its delicate flavor the Persians call tliose grown in the vicinity of 

 Ivan, " the seed of the sun." The French naturalist, M. Regnier, thinks the 

 apricot is a native of Africa, and has spread by cultivation into Asia and 

 Europe. De Candolle, in his " Origin of Cultivated Plants," gives su1)stantial 

 reasons for believing that the apricot is a native of China, introduced thence 

 into western Asia, and finally into Europe, and by European colonists brought 

 to northeast America, wliere considerable attention has been given to its 

 cultivation. 



Use. — The apricot is a beautiful smooth fruit, smaller than the peach, but 

 closely resembling it in form, and only a little less delicious in flavor. It 

 is used as a dessert, and is highly prized for preserving, either in sugar or 

 brandy. For puddings, pies, and dumplings, it is next to the peach in 

 favor. 



Marts. — San Francisco is the great shipping mart in America for the 

 canned fruit. 



