My favorite peach tree (so far)

All that impromptu talk about drupes just got me thinking about a peach tree I came across randomly during one of my stints in Boston.

Summer 2009: I had moved back to the city in order to start working for the Greenway, and found a summer sublet living with some Tufts University students in Somerville, MA. The apartment was in the Teele Square area quite close to the university, and I had been taking the Red Line from Davis Sq. to South Station as a daily commute. By the time August rolled around, I was talking to one of my roommates about routes to work (which I think is the generic icebreaker conversation after you've covered the current temperature and level of precipitation), upon which she noted I was going a longer way than I needed to.

City peaches: I think this was by the intersection of Packard and Broadway.

Either needing a change of pace or looking to save five minutes on my commute, I took her advice a few days later and walked to Davis Station via. Packard Avenue, where I'd take a shortcut across a Tufts parking lot before crossing onto Holland St.

Now I tend to check out street trees and gardens as I walk, if only because I feel proud of myself when I recognize plants. So there I was checking out the profusion of urban staples such as London Planetrees (Platanus x acerfolia) and Norway Maples (Acer platanoides). So you can imagine my surprise when all of a sudden I first look down to try to avoid the overripe fruit littering the sidewalk, and then find myself ducking to get past one of the low hanging branches of a Peach tree.

Drupes in July, probably a few weeks until ripening

I actually took the above images in July 2011 (nearly two years after the above anecdote), as part of my whirlwind tour of the city before moving to Delaware, so the fruits (excuse me, drupes) are not ripe. Still, I was more than a little surprised to see this tree. I've always thought of peaches as a southern crop, and assumed that growing them in New England would require quite a bit of care, so I was bit taken aback to come across one at an intersection in Somerville, which seemed to be in at least good health and fruiting prolifically with little to no signs of care. I suppose it goes to show how hardy some of these trees can be, and how strong their will to live is once they have become established. Also goes to show what one can do as an urban gardener. If you're willing to think even a little bit outside the box, you can cause a even plant nerd like me to stop dead in their tracks. Come to think of it, I suppose that does mean you do risk them coming back camera in hand year after year trying to catch the plant in peak... maybe it's better to stick to the staples after all.

Prunus mume and an introduction to fruit types

Prunus mume (Plum Flower, Japanese Apricot)

Prunus mume (mume pronounced like moo-may), is a tree originally native to Japan and China reaching an adult height of 15-30’. Commonly called the Japanese Apricot or Plum Flower, it is a member of the genus Prunus, which contains several species of fruit trees including peaches, cherries, plums, apricots, and even almonds.

I find the inclusion of almonds in this group is often a source of confusion for the less botanically-inclined. Why would a nut be lumped in with all these fruit trees? In fact all of these trees produce fruits which are considered “drupes”, a fruit type where a single seed is surrounded by usually a fleshy layer fruit. The peach is often a textbook example: think of it as comprising of three parts: the fuzzy “skin” of the peach (exocarp) covering the fleshy fruit (mesocarp) which in turn encases the pit or seed of the peach (the rough uneven outermost layer of the pit is the endocarp).

Almonds are drupes as well, however in this case it is the seed we find edible rather than the mesocarp . The mesocarp and green leathery exocarp of the almond fruit have already removed by the time they reach the store, leaving only the endocarp and embryo. The shelled almonds have their endocarp removed, whereas the unshelled still have the endocarp remaining.

Diagram of a Peach Fruit (drupe) pulled from Wikipedia's entry

 

An example of a “true nut”, botanically speaking, would be something like an acorn or hazelnut, which is produced on the plant with a hardened wall around the seed and no fleshy fruit layer. I’m now thinking of doing an introduction to the major fruit types in a later entry, but for now let’s use peaches and plums as our reference points for drupes.

Despite that we now know the plant produces a drupe, Prunus mume, is not generally known as a fruit tree. Most of the plums you’ve eaten are probably members of Prunus x domestica, a name referring to hybrids of two mainly European species. Prunus mume is instead an ornamental grown for its flowers.

 

I remember seeing a few of these trees last summer upon moving to Delaware, and have been keeping an eye on them since hoping to catch a specimen in bloom. I first became interested in the species when doing a write-up for the Greenway’s Chrysanthemum festival back in Fall 2010. I was trying to find a brief tidbit from Chinese Folklore about the significance of the mum flower to liven up the article a bit and came across a mention of the “Four Men of Honor.” I’m not sure of all the details, but apparently these are a group of plants traditionally believed to possess admirable human traits. The Chrysanthemum symbolizes modesty, Bamboo represents integrity, the Orchid stands for leisure, and finally, the Plum Blossom is seen as displaying braveness.

The brave Plum Blossom! This is actually from the cultivar 'Pendula', though you'd never be able to tell without seeing the habit. Note that there are clearly five petals per flower, indicative of plants in the rose family.

 

We already had bamboo and obviously chrysanthemums in the Chinatown Park, so I thought it would be fun to add the remaining two men of honor. Orchids are a huge family of plants so there were several options there, but I was pushing for Bletilla striata, the Chinese Ground Orchid, which in retrospect may have been a bit too fragile for use in an urban park unless protected in a raised bed or container.  The plum flower on the other hand was much harder to track down. It’s thought of being only marginally hardy to New England as it apparently has difficulty surviving the colder winters. Though I think it would have been at least worth a shot given a protected location, many of the New England Nurseries simply do not have the plant. I assumed that this was due to the aforementioned hardiness issues, but its rarity appears to be nationwide. It is however, decidedly more popular in Japan, with hundreds of named cultivars.

 

I’m not sure if I see the evident braveness in this flower, but there’s definitely something ballsy about coming into full bloom in January. I’m the kind of person who likes being able to walk through a garden at any point of the year and see something in bloom. The offerings for December, January, and the first few weeks of February are understandably quite sparse. Now granted we’ve had what I understand to be a very mild winter in Delaware, at least so far, but when in late January I see a flowering tree that approximates the flowering cherries so representative of spring, I can’t help but feel that season is rapidly approaching, even if I know there are still quite a few cold weeks ahead of us. I’m surprised, but also a bit disappointed this plant is only rarely cultivated here in the US, and will certainly be keeping an eye on it in the future, watching for any particular forms which may be worthy of further evaluation.

We also have Prunus mume 'Hokkai' at the UDBG, which seems to be a semi-double form with darker flowers

Further Reading:
Edible Plums and Apricots