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APRICOT. 



Family: Rosaceae. 



Reproductive system: Icosandry, Monogyny. 



The cultivated apricot tree, Armeniaca vulgaris^ Lam., Primus armeniaca L., has 

 been grown in France for ages for its delicious fruit. Its trunk grows fifteen or twenty feet 

 high and is covered by brown bark. Its branches spread out into a large mass. The leaves, 

 almost heart-shaped, are smooth with dentate margins. The flowers appear before the 

 leaves. They are white, sessile, single or two-by-two in clusters and emerge from scaly 

 buds. The calyx is monophyllous in five sections. The corolla has five petals. A large 

 number of stamens insert into the calyx. The superior ovary culminates in a style and 

 stigma; it becomes a round fruit with a groove on one side. The fruit is covered with short 

 fuzz; it contains a smooth, round, compressed pit edged on its sides with two ridges, one 

 blunt, the other sharp. The pit contains one, sometimes two kernels. 



FLOWERS: February and March. 



RANGE: thought to have originated in Armenia. [Translator's note: the apricot 

 now is known to have originated in China and was introduced into Europe via Armenia.] 



NOMENCLATURE. Apricot comes from the Arab word harqoq. Armeniaca means 

 originating in Armenia. German, aprikosenbaum. English, apricot-tree. Italian, 

 albicocco. Russian and Polish, morela. Bohemian, morunka. Hungarian, tengeri baratzh. 



USES. The wood of the apricot tree is veined red and yellow. It's sometimes used 

 in lathe work. The fruit is soothing; it's eaten raw, preserved in liqueur, or made into pies 

 and apricot marmalade. The seeds, sweet in flavor, can be used the same 



