Peach

The peach, Prunus persica, is a deciduous tree, native to China and South Asia, where it was first cultivated. It bears an edible juicy fruit also called a peach. The species name persica refers to its widespread cultivation in Persia, whence it was transplanted to Europe. It belongs to the genus Prunus which includes the cherry and plum, in the family Rosaceae. The peach is classified with the almond in the subgenus Amygdalus, distinguished from the other subgenera by the corrugated seed shell.

Famous quotes containing the word peach:

“Here, lads, we live by the law of the taiga. But even here people manage to live. D’you know who are the ones the camps finish off? Those who lick other men’s left-overs, those who set store by the doctors, and those who peach on their mates.”
—Alexander Solzhenitsyn (b. 1918)

“The dog-wood breaks white
The pear-tree has caught
The apple is a red blaze
The peach has already withered its own leaves
The wild plum-tree is alight.”
—Hilda Doolittle (1886–1961)

“I askèd a thief to steal me a peach
He turned up his eyes
I ask’d a lithe lady to lie her down
Holy & meek she cries—

As soon as I went
An angel came.
He wink’d at the thief
And smild at the dame—

And without one word said
Had a peach from the tree
And still as a maid
Enjoy’d the lady.”
—William Blake (1757–1827)