Prunus armeniaca Seeds | Apricot
LATIN NAME: Prunus armeniaca
COMMON NAME: Apricot
Plant Profile
Prunus armeniaca is the apricot of the orchard, a small tree to eight metres with a rounded crown, reddish twigs and round, heart-shaped leaves. The flowers open very early, often in late winter, and they are white or pale pink and self-fertile in most cultivars, which is why a single tree can crop. The fruit is a velvety orange drupe with a seam down one side and a stone that comes away cleanly in good varieties.
The species is native to the mountains of central Asia and northern China, and it has been cultivated for four thousand years. It is grown in regions with cold winters and dry summers, from Central Asia to the Mediterranean and to California, and it is one of the most frost-sensitive of the stone fruits, since the flowers open before the bees are active.
Science & Biotechnology
The kernel contains amygdalin, a cyanogenic glycoside that releases hydrogen cyanide when the tissue is crushed and moistened. Bitter kernels are used for oil and for flavouring, and they are toxic in quantity; sweet kernels are eaten as a snack. The same compound is the reason apricot kernel oil has a faint almond smell.
The tree is prone to bacterial canker and to sharka, a plum pox virus that spreads by aphids and that has devastated orchards in Europe. It is also one of the stone fruits most sensitive to spring frost, and the flowers can be killed by a single cold night, which is why commercial orchards are sited on slopes where cold air drains away.
Uses & Benefits
The fruit is eaten fresh, dried and made into jam, and the dried fruit is a major trade in Turkey and in Iran. The kernel is pressed for oil, used in cooking and in cosmetics, and the bitter kernel is used for flavouring in small quantities. The wood is used for small turnery and for fuel.
In Chinese medicine the kernel is used for cough and for constipation, and the fruit is used as a tonic. The tree is also grown as an ornamental for the early flowers, and it is used as a rootstock for other stone fruits in cold, dry climates.
Growing from Seed
Seed needs cold stratification: three months at 4 degrees, then sow at 15 to 20 degrees. Named cultivars are grafted onto peach, plum or apricot rootstock in late winter, since seed does not come true.
The tree wants full sun, a deep, well-drained soil and a site where cold air drains away, since the flowers are damaged by frost. It is hardy to about minus twenty-five when dormant. Prune in summer rather than in winter, since the wood is prone to canker, and thin the fruit if the crop is heavy. Remove the fruit in the first two years so that the tree establishes before it crops.
Our Take
An early-flowering stone fruit for a frost-free site, and a tree whose kernel is a flavouring and a poison in the same shell.
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