considerably beyond the
other; it originated in America, and its seedlings inherit similar
leaves.[677]

The peach has also produced in China a small class of trees valued for
ornament, namely the double-flowered; of these five varieties are now
known in England, varying from pure white, through rose, to intense
crimson.[678] One of these varieties, called the camellia-flowered,
bears flowers above 21/4 inches in diameter, whilst those of the
fruit-bearing kinds do not at most exceed 11/4 inch in diameter. The
flowers of the {344} double-flowered peaches have the singular
property[679] of frequently producing double or treble fruit. Finally,
there is good reason to believe that the peach is an almond profoundly
modified; but whatever its origin may have been, there can be no doubt
that it has yielded during the last eighteen centuries many varieties,
some of them strongly characterised, belonging both to the nectarine
and peach form.

_Apricot_ (_Prunus armeniaca_).--It is commonly admitted that this tree
is descended from a single species, now found wild in the Caucasian
region.[680] On this view the varieties deserve notice, because they
illustrate differences supposed by some botanists to be of specific
value in the almond and plum. The best monograph on the apricot is by
Mr. Thompson,[681] who describes seventeen varieties. We have seen that
peaches and nectarines vary in a strictly parallel manner; and in the
apricot, which forms a closely allied genus, we again meet with
variations analogous to those of the peach, as well as to those of the
plum. The varieties differ considerably in the shape of their leaves,
which are either serrated or crenated, sometimes with ear-like
appendages at their bases, and sometimes with glands on the petioles.
The flowers are generally alike, but are small in the Masculine. The
fruit varies much in size, shape, and in having the suture little
pronounced or absent; in the skin being smooth, or downy as in the
orange-apricot; and in the flesh clinging to the stone, as in the
last-mentioned kind, or in readily separating from it, as in the
Turkey-apricot. In all these differences we see the closest analogy
with the varieties of the peach and nectarine. In the stone we have
more important differences, and these in the case of the plum have been
e