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Peach🍑
Prunus persica
モモ
A deciduous fruit tree native to China, believed to have been introduced to Japan during the Yayoi period. Deeply rooted in Japanese food culture and folklore, it appears in the legend of Momotaro. Major production areas are Yamanashi, Fukushima, and Nagano. The fruit is sweet and fragrant, with white-fleshed and yellow-fleshed cultivars. The pale pink flowers blooming in spring are also valued ornamentally.
Identification Points
- ✓Pale pink to white 5-petaled flowers bloom before leaf emergence in spring (March–April)
- ✓Leaves are elongated-lanceolate with serrate margins and nectaries on the petiole
- ✓Fruit is round with fine pubescence and a distinct suture line
- ✓Pit (stone) is hard with deep grooves on the surface
- ✓Deciduous small tree, 3–8 m in height
Habitat
Orchards and gardens in warm to mildly cool climates
Season
March–April (flowering), July–August (harvest)
Morphological TraitsAI-estimated, needs verification
Leaf arrangement
Alternate
Leaf type
Simple
Venation
Pinnate
Leaf margin
Serrate
Leaf shape
Linear
Growth form
Tree
Evergreen/Deciduous
Deciduous
Petal count
5 petals
Petal fusion
Free
Flowering season
Spring
Habitat
Cultivated
Flower symmetry
Actinomorphic
Plant sex
Hermaphrodite
Stamen count
3-4
Phylogenetic Positionバラ科 →
Phylogenetic Position
Angiosperms > Eudicots > Core eudicots > Rosales > Rosaceae
Divergence Era
Late Cretaceous (approx. 90 million years ago onward)
Evolution Notes
Prunus is one of the largest genera in Rosaceae. The drupe (stone fruit) structure is an evolutionary adaptation for seed dispersal by birds.
View on evolution timeline →Sources & References
AI-generated, needs verification