Armeniaca sibirica Seeds | Siberian Apricot

Siberian Apricot (Armeniaca sibirica) in early spring with white blossom on a small hardy tree of the northern steppes — Siberian Apricot (*Armeniaca sibirica*): Rosaceae, the cold-hardy apricot of the northern Chinese steppes, grown for its kernels.

LATIN NAME: Armeniaca sibirica (syn. Prunus sibirica)

COMMON NAME: Siberian Apricot

Plant Profile

Siberian Apricot is a small deciduous tree of the rose family from Siberia, Mongolia and northern China, reaching three to six metres with a rounded crown of oval leaves. In early spring, before the leaves, the bare branches carry white to pink-tinged blossom, and the small, dry-fleshed fruits that follow in summer are grown chiefly for their kernels rather than their flesh.

It is exceptionally cold- and drought-hardy, standing winters that kill most stone fruits, and it is planted across the harsh northwest of China for shelter, reclamation and kernel production. It wants full sun and deep, well-drained ground. The bark is dark and roughly ridged on older trunks, and the small fruits, yellow-orange with a dry, sour flesh, hang singly or in pairs rather than in the heavy crops of commercial apricots. The blossom opens while snow still lies in shaded hollows in its northern range, among the earliest tree flowers of the steppe spring.

Science & Biotechnology

The species is the hardiness donor of the apricot group, used in breeding programmes to push cold tolerance into commercial apricots, and its frost resistance has been documented in orchard trials across northern China.

As with all apricots its kernels contain amygdalin, the compound that releases hydrogen cyanide when the raw seed is eaten in quantity, a food-safety subject studied extensively in toxicology; processing, not avoidance, is the traditional answer. Provenance trials across northern China have mapped cold-hardiness differences between seed sources, and the species is classified among the most frost-tolerant stone fruits in cultivation. Its role as a hardiness parent is documented in apricot breeding records across North America and Europe, where winters have repeatedly tested the seedlings it sired.

Uses & Benefits

The kernels are the basis of a real industry in northern China: processed into the apricot kernel drinks and baking ingredients of Chinese grocery shelves, and the tree is planted in vast reclamation blocks on the Loess Plateau.

Raw kernels should never be eaten in quantity; processed and prepared products are the safe form. In the garden the tree earns its place as one of the hardiest early-blossoming trees in cultivation. The processed kernel is a standard ingredient of Chinese pastries and the ubiquitous apricot kernel beverage, an industry that draws on plantations of this species across the Loess Plateau. The tree is also planted as a frost-hardy rootstock for commercial apricots in cold districts, a use that draws directly on its steppe ancestry.

Growing from Seed

The fresh pits need a cold, moist stratification over winter to break dormancy: crack or nick the hard shell carefully, or bury the whole pits in damp sand and leave them outdoors until spring.

Sow the stratified seed into a loose mix, keep it cool and moist, and grow the seedlings on in full sun. Plant out into deep, well-drained soil; the species builds drought resistance on a deep taproot, so move it young. Crack only a portion of the shell when sowing; whole pits stratify well and crack naturally, and the seedling’s root is less damaged by slow emergence. Once established it needs no summer water in most districts, and supplementary irrigation in dry years only encourages the shallow roots it does better without.

Our Take

The apricot of the steppes: blossom before the leaves, kernels for the kitchen trade, and a tolerance of cold that borders on the extreme. Stratify the pits and plant it young.

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