Ancient fruit
Prunus armeniaca L. · Family: Rosaceae
This is a medium-sized broad-leaved, deciduous tree, usually 5 to 7 m tall. The species was already well known in Armenia since antiquity, a historical fact reflected in its botanical name: a deciduous tree with a typically rounded crown.
Its leaves are heart-shaped with a doubly serrated margin, and the main trunk bears diverging branches. The flowers are white-pink, single or in pairs, and blooming always precedes the leaves. The fruits are velvety drupes of dark yellow-orange colour, tending to a faded red in the ripest ones.
Today apricots are grown mainly in Mediterranean countries such as Italy and Spain. The flesh is an ingredient in many dishes and the jam is essential to numerous desserts. The seed inside the stone (armellina) resembles a small almond and is used to make amaretto; it contains amygdalin, which can be harmful.
In the Pope’s Orchard it is brought back as a historic, now-forgotten species of the Tusculan territory: grown without synthetic chemicals, with shallow roots (within 1.5 m) so as not to interfere with the archaeology below.
Cultivars present
A. di Monte Porzio · A. di Velletri · Rubini Maria · Rousse de Rossillones · Pisana · Reale d’Imola
Gallery
