120 TREATISE ON FRUIT TREES. 



that arise from it usually produce fruit that is more elongated, diminished in size but 

 rarely in taste. Customarily the almonds are planted only to grow stocks for grafting 

 quality almond trees, peach trees, and some apricot trees. 



II. Sweet ALMOND, softer pit, C.B.P. [Translator's note: Caspar Bauhin Pinax, 



1 560-1624, was an early describer of the tree]. 



ALMOND TREE, soft-shelled. ALMOND TREE, soft pit. Lady ALMOND TREE. (Plate I.) 



The flowers of this almond tree are fifteen lignes in diameter. The petals are only 

 five lignes wide by almost seven lignes long; their widest dimension is about half their 

 length. The tip has a heart-shaped cleft that is deeper than the one in the preceding 

 species; the ungues are bright red. The petals are white on the inside, except for the tip 

 that has a slight flesh-colored tint. Some are entirely this color on the outside. This 

 almond tree blooms later than the others. Its first leaves appear at the same time as the 

 flowers, unlike the others where the flowers open before the leaves come out. 



The leaves are only two to two-&-a-half inches long & nine or ten lignes wide, 

 held upright by quite thick stalks seven to eight lignes long. Slightly larger ones are found 

 on the shoots, & those on fruiting branches are a good deal smaller. 



The fruit is fourteen to sixteen lignes long, from eleven to thirteen lignes wide at 

 its large diameter & ten to eleven lignes at its small diameter. Its shape is more oval than 

 that of the other almonds and diminishes less toward the tip. Although the more elliptical 

 side is indented by a small groove 



