Prunus persica 

grows up to 7 m (23 ft) tall and wide, but when pruned properly, trees are usually 3–
4 m (10–13 ft) tall and wide.[8] The leaves are lanceolate, 7–16 cm (3–6+1⁄2 in) long, 2–3 cm (3⁄4–
1+1⁄4 in) broad, and pinnately veined. The flowers are produced in early spring before the leaves;
they are solitary or paired, 2.5–3 cm diameter, pink, with five petals. The fruit has yellow or whitish
flesh, a delicate aroma, and a skin that is either velvety (peaches) or smooth (nectarines) in
different cultivars. The flesh is very delicate and easily bruised in some cultivars, but is fairly firm in
some commercial varieties, especially when green. The single, large seed is red-brown, oval
shaped, around 1.3–2 cm long, and surrounded by a wood-like husk. Peaches, along with cherries,
plums, and apricots, are stone fruits (drupes). The various heirloom varieties including the 'Indian
Peach', or 'Indian Blood Peach', which ripens in the latter part of the summer, and can have color
ranging from red and white, to purple.[9]
Cultivated peaches are divided into clingstones and freestones, depending on whether the flesh
sticks to the stone or not; both can have either white or yellow flesh. Peaches with white flesh
typically are very sweet with little acidity, while yellow-fleshed peaches typically have an acidic tang
coupled with sweetness, though this also varies greatly. Both colors often have some red on their
skins. Low-acid, white-fleshed peaches are the most popular kinds in China, Japan, and
neighbouring Asian countries, while Europeans and North Americans have historically favoured the
acidic, yellow-fleshed cultivars.
The English word cherry derives from Old Northern French or Norman cherise from the
Latin cerasum,[3] referring to an ancient Greek region, Kerasous (Κερασοῦς) near Giresun, Turkey,
from which cherries were first thought to be exported to Europe.[4] The indigenous range of the sweet
cherry extends through most of Europe, western Asia, and parts of northern Africa, and the fruit has
been consumed throughout its range since prehistoric times. A cultivated cherry is recorded as
having been brought to Rome by Lucius Licinius Lucullus from northeastern Anatolia, also known as
the Pontus region, in 72 BC.[5]
Cherries were introduced into England at Teynham, near Sittingbourne in Kent, by order of Henry
VIII, who had tasted them in Flanders.[6][7][8]
Cherries arrived in North America early in the settlement of Brooklyn, New York (then called "New
Netherland") when the region was under Dutch sovereignty. Trades people leased or purchased
land to plant orchards and produce gardens, "Certificate of Corielis van Tienlioven that he had found
12 apple, 40 peach, 73 cherry trees, 26 sage plants.., behind the house sold by Anthony Janszoon
van Salee (from Salee [Morocco, Africa]) to Barent Dirksen [Dutchmen],... ANNO 18th of June
1639."[9]