OUR COMMON FRUIT TREES 



its successful acclimatization. By analogy it ought 

 to be very hardy but as a matter of fact with us it 

 has suffered badly each winter. 



The Apricot (Prunus Armeniaca) is another fruit- 

 tree whose specific name is a geographical misnomer. 

 Originally considered native of the Caucasus and 

 Armenia it is now pretty generally accepted as being 

 of Chinese origin. Its history is similar to that of the 

 Peach. The Romans cultivated it and it is described 

 by Pliny and Dioscorides. To France and England 

 it was almost certainly carried by the Romans 

 though the first mention of its being in England is in 

 Turner's "Herbal" published in 1562. In China I 

 know it only as a cultivated tree but many travellers 

 have seen it wild in the northern provinces. It is 

 much grown in Korea and, though I have not yet 

 had time critically to compare the material, I am in- 

 clined to think that an Apricot I gathered on clilfs 

 in northern Korea, and unquestionably wild there, rep- 

 resents this species. It may, however, belong to 

 P. sibirica, by some considered merely a variety of 

 P. Armeniaca. In Japan the Apricot is much cul- 

 tivated, and the fruit is pickled and eaten as a relish. 

 Its Japanese name is "ansu" and there are many 

 beautiful garden forms with white, pink, to rose-red 

 single and double flowers. In Afghanistan and 

 other regions of the northwestern Himalayas the fruit 



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