Nectarine

The Nectarine is a sweet and juicy stone fruit tree very similar to the peach. However, where the peach has a furry skin, nectarines are smooth and shiny. Nectarines are very soft and easily damaged, and they have a very short shelf-life. Like peaches, there are two different varieties of nectarines in cultivation - white nectarines, which have a red skin and a white interior, and golden nectarines, with yellowish flesh.

Nectarine trees will grow from seed and reach the stage of bearing fruit in their natural state, although various grafted cultivars are sold in nurseries. The trees are prone to a disease called leaf curl, which does not affect the fruit crop, merely the aesthetics of the tree, and the fruit is very susceptible to brown rot.

Nectarines and peaches are closely related, and occasionally, a crop of nectarines will produce one or two peaches, and vice versa.

A nectarine tree in full-bloom