This post is # 561 in my continuing sequence of blog posts since I began my blog in 2014.
This post is about a self-pollinating dwarf-peach tree (referred commercially to as the “bonzana” peach bush). It is about 3.5 feet tall and yearly, yields abundant delicious peaches. They are smaller than normal size, but, in my opinion, they taste just as good as regular-size peaches. Such a smaller size tree is ideal, if your garden is limited in size.
Peaches are classified in genus Prunus, along with almonds, prunes, plums, apricots, nectarines, and cherries. These all belong to the rose family (see below) and are also referred to as “stone fruits” or drupes because their seeds are enclosed in a rock-hard pit. The peaches you grow or buy in a store are classified as Prunus persica.
Genus Prunus has cosmopolitan distribution but is native to temperate regions of North America. The geologic record of Purnus ranges from Eocene to Recent (with possibly a Cretaceous [Middle Cretaceous Albian] record). Today, there are about 340 species in genus Prunus.
Classification
Kingdom Plantae
Clades (6 of them)
Order Rosales
Family Rosaceae (the rose family)
Genus Prunus
Species: Peaches, along with, nectarines are classified as Prunus persica.
Peach seeds look like almond nuts, but, as mentioned above, peach seeds are enclosed in a really hard pit. These seeds are poisonous because they contain amygdalin, which breaks down into hydrogen cyanide when eaten or digested in sufficient quantity. Therefore, do not eat peach seeds that are found inside the hard-shelled pit. The latter requires a hammer to break it open.
Figure 3. Broken-open peach pit and the seed that came out of the pit of a home-grown dwarf-peach-tree peach. Scale is in centimeters.
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