AMYGDALUS, ALMONDTREE. 127 



IX. ALMOND - PEACH 



ALMOND - PEACH TREE. Almond-Peach. {PL IV.) 



This tree resembles the peach tree but the almond tree even more so. It's vigorous, 

 grows up & bears fruit by itself in the open. In height & habit it looks like the almond 

 trees. 



The shoots are green. 



The size & shape of the leaves are intermediate between those of peach & almond 

 trees. They are smooth, narrow, whitish green, and very finely serrated on the edges. 



The flowers are very large, almost white but very lightly tinged with red, looking 

 more like those of the almond tree than those of the peach tree. 



Two types of fruit are found on the same tree & often on the same branch. Some 

 are large, round, divided along their length by a groove and very fleshy & succulent like a 

 peach. Their skin & flesh are green. The juice is bitter; they're edible only in compotes. 

 The others ones are large, elongated, and have only a hard dry husk that splits open like 

 that of an almond when the fruit ripens around the end of October. Both kinds have a 

 large pit that isn't at all rough like the one in a peach; it contains a sweet almond. 



So most of the features of this tree are the same as those of the almond tree. It 

 probably originated from an almond flower that had been fertilized by pollen from 

 stamens of a peach flower. 



CULTIVA TION. 



Almond trees are propagated by seeds germinated in sand. They are planted, 

 cultivated, and managed 



