0057 



ALMOND TREE. 



Family: ROSACEAE. 



Reproductive system: ICOSANDRY, MONOGYNY. 



The dwarf almond, Amygdalus nana. Wild., [Translator \s note: now designated 

 Prunus tenella, Batsch] is a small tree about a meter high. The stems are slender, 

 branched, and bushy. The leaves, frequently clustered in small bunches, are alternate, 

 dentate in wild trees, but entire or almost so in garden varieties. They are oblong, narrow, 

 and pointed. The flowers, a delicate pink, blossom all along the stems and branches at the 

 first sign of spring. The nut has a rough husk; the almond itself is intolerably bitter. 



FLOWERS: in March and April. 



RANGE: Tartary [Translator's note: central and western Asia], where it had been 

 discovered by Henselman who sent it to St. Petersburg. From there it spread and became 

 acclimatized in almost all of the gardens of Europe. 



The common almond, Amygdalus communis, Linn., [Translator 's note: now 

 designated Prunus amygdalus and also P. dulcis] is a tree about thirty or forty feet high. 

 The leaves are alternate, petiolate, lanceolate, dentate, and glabrous. The flowers are light 

 purple or whitish; they appear before the leaves do and are sessile on the previous year's 

 branches. The calyx is divided into five sections that have a large number of stamens 

 inserted at their bases. Five petals likewise are inserted into the calyx alternating with its 

 sections. The ovary is superior and culminates in a style that is slightly lateral. It converts 

 to an oval drupe, downy and somewhat flattened, that contains a woody pit, fissured on 

 its surface. In one variety of this tree there's a sweet almond inside; in another kind it's a 

 bitter one. 



FLOWERS: in March and April; in mild winters it blooms as early as February. 



RANGE: the Levant and northern regions of Africa. 



