Цвіт нектарина

The nectarine and the peach

The difference between the two fruits is the lack of fuzz, the trichomes, on the skin of the nectarine. The gene PpeMYB25 regulates the formation of trichomes on peach fruits. A mutation can cause a loss of function that results in the changed fruit type.

The flower

The peach is planted as an ornamental for its flowers as well as for its fruit. Each flower has four or five petals and is somewhat cup-shaped, with the petals curving to shelter the centre of the flower. Each flower has 20 to 30 stamens, with purple-red anthers at their ends. Pink or red flowers 2 to 3.5 cm wide are typical of cultivars selected for their fruit.

Aroma compounds

Nectarines generate fewer volatiles than peaches, but have more fruity and floral aroma notes because of greater ester, linalool and terpinolene production.

History

The history of the nectarine is unclear: the first recorded mention in English is from 1611, but nectarines had probably been grown much earlier within the native range of the peach in central and eastern Asia. Peaches were first domesticated and cultivated in China during the Neolithic period. In 1917 the botanist Ulysses Prentiss Hedrick argued that the differences between peaches and nectarines are merely simple mutations and not species or even varieties.

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