

ALMOND VARIETIES IN THE UNITED STATES 105 
grooves near base. Canals very large. Fibers very large and tough. Inner 
shell thick, hard, brittle, or tough. Inner surface medium brown in color, 
usually darker than outer surface, frequently mottled or streaked with fine 
lines of darker brown; somewhat longitudinally ridged. Ventral streak dark 
brown, long, medium to wide, bluntly pointed or round at base. Apex bluntly 
pointed. 
Kernel: Many doubles (38 per cent) ; size medium to quite large ( average 
1 by 3 by z inch), Many gummy nuts. Seldom fill shell entirely. Shape 
thin oval or ovate-oval; quite wide in proportion to length. (Viewed edge- 
wise, long ovate with sides flat and straight and apex plump.) Ventral edge 
much shorter than dorsal. Base rounding; ventral shoulder rounding; dorsal 
shoulder rounding or occasionally very slightly square, with a tendency to be 
plump; apex wide but tapering and plump. Pellicle light to dark brown, 
medium to thick, and quite tough; pubescence varies, most at apex and along 
pellicle fold, coarse; pellicle fold medium to pronounced in size, extending 
along apex half of ventral edge; veining distinct; base scar large, dark 
brown, oval. Flavor flat and neutral, but sweeter after nut is stored for a 
time. 
Distinguishing characteristics—Nut distinguished by its shape and clean. 
smooth appearance of the outer shell. Dorsal edge curves sharply; apex 
broad and blunt with a characteristic hump on dorsal edge; base truncate; 
shell hard, light in color; ventral streak with blunt apex and base; double 
kernels common. 
COMMENTS 
The Peerless nut, with its light-colored, clean, Smooth shell, is attractive 
in appearance and finds a ready market as a second-rate nut. It has, however, 
a thick hard shell and a kernel of rather poor quality. Although the nuts . 
knock easily and hull easily, they are difficult to harvest because, when 
ripening, they drop from the trees so easily that winds may scatter them. 
making it necessary to harvest them very early or to pick them from the 
ground, an expensive and annoying process. One of the greatest defects 
of the variety is its Susceptibility to frost injury during blooming time. 
Slight frosts which do not injure other varieties blooming at the same time 
often damage the Peerless blossoms greatly. The variety has been planted 
to a considerable extent as a pollinizer of the Nonpareil. The Peerless almond 
is grown commercially in every almond-growing district in California. In 
further plantings the frostiness of the district should be taken into account 
very carefully. 
55. PHILOPENA (GURR PHILOPENA) 
Origin.—Unecertain. Probably originated near Merced, Calif. Grown in vari- 
ous localities in the Sacramento and San Joaquin Valleys, Calif. Is much less 
common now than formerly. This nut is sometimes erroneously called the 
** Queen.” 
Description 
TREE 
Moderately upright (average height of head to width, 1:1.1). Rather rapid 
grower. Trunk moderately stocky with rough bark. 
Main branches.—Moderately stocky, moderate in growth. Branching angle 
medium. Bark rough on old branches and grayish. On young branches bark 
reddish brown with much grayish epidermis; exfoliates in medium-sized flakes. 
Twigs.—Rather stocky, medium in growth. Nodes rather large. Internodes 
short to medium (4 to 14 inches). Bark light green as a rule, tinged with red 
in fall. 
Lenticels—Numerous; variable in size (on 10-year-old bark, 7s by + to 
zs by 4 inch), elliptical, with rather blunt apexes; raised; brownish gray. 
Foliage.—Usually dense. Leaves large and flat. 
Blade: Varies much in size; averages large (14 by 4 inches). Shape ovate. 
ovate-elliptical, or elliptical with sides rather straight in middle. Young leaves 
are usually wide-elliptical. Base bluntly rounding; origin of margins com- 
monly unsymmetrical. Apex bluntly acute, seldom cuneiform. Margins very 
widely and shallowly crenate; basal pair of crenations often glandular; bristle 
short and wide. Main rib slender, depressed on upper surface, especially near 
RRR REET eS EE ee SDR, PRESS REE oS SE A Ie eee eee) OS OS. 
