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The flower

Flowers on peach trees are either solitary or in groups of two, usually blooming before the leaves begin to grow. They may range in shades from white to red, but pink or red flowers 2-3.5 cm in width are typical of cultivars selected for their fruit. Each flower has four or five petals and is somewhat cup-shaped. Trees grown as ornamentals may have double flowers, semi-doubled flowers, or bicolored forms. Each flower has 20 to 30 stamens with purple-red anthers at their tips, and a single style nearly as long as the stamens. The flowers are self-fertile and outcross at about 5%.

Botany and bloom

The peach, Prunus persica, is a deciduous tree. It belongs to the genus Prunus, which also includes the cherry, apricot, almond and plum, and is part of the rose family. The bloom period is in the early spring, often cut short by frosts. Depending on location, the bloom falls in February, March, April or May. In New Zealand and the southern hemisphere, blooming occurs in August to October. Peaches are planted as ornamentals for their flowers as well as for their fruit. Carl Linnaeus named the tree Amygdalus persica in 1753, and the accepted name Prunus persica was published by August Batsch in 1801. Because of the hardness of the seed casing, peaches are called stone fruits, or more formally drupes.

Fruit aroma

In the peach fruit, lactones shape the basic aroma, and γ-decalactone is one of its characteristic volatile compounds. More than a hundred volatiles have been identified in different peach varieties, with C6 compounds, esters, benzaldehyde, linalool, C13 norisoprenoids and lactones among the most abundant. The lactones act together with aldehydes, alcohols and terpenoids, which are responsible for the spicy, floral and fruity features of the peach.

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