APRICOT, Prunus armeniaca, a species of the same genus with the plum (q.v.), is a native of Armenia, and of the countries eastward to China and Japan; a middle-sized tree of 15 to 20 or even 30 ft. high. with ovate, acuminate, and cordate, smooth, doubly toothed leaves on long stalks; solitary, sessile, white flowers, which appear before the leaves, and fruit resembling the peach, roundish, downy, yellow, and ruddy on the side next the sun, with yellow flesh. The A. was brought into Europe in the time of Alexander the great, and since the days of the Romans has been diffused over all its western countries. It has been cultivated in England since the middle of the 16th century. It is only in the s. of England that it is ever trained as a standard, nor is it grown in the more northern parts, even as an espalier, but almost always as a wall-tree. More than 20 kinds are distinguished, amongst which some excel very much in size, fine color, sweetness, and abundance ofjuice. the .Moorpark is generally esteemed the finest variety, and the Breda as best suited for standards in the s. of England, and in Scotland even for the wall, except in the most favorable situations.—The A. is generally budded on plum or wild cherry stocks. The fruit keeps only for a very short time, and is either eaten fresh, or made into a preserve or jelly. Apricots split up, having the stone taken out, and dried, are brought from Italy as an article of commerce, in particular from Trieste, Genoa, and Leghorn; in the s. of France, also, they are an article of export in a
preserved and candied state. Dried apricots from Bokhara are sold in the towns of Russia, the kernels of which areperfectly sweet, like those of the sweet almond. The kernels are sweet in sonic kinds, and bitter in others—the bitterness being probably more natural, and the sweetness, as in the almond, the result of cultivation. Generally speaking, they may be used for the same purposes as almonds. From the bitter kernels, which contain prussic acid, the can de noyaux is distilled in France. The charred stones yield a black pigment similar to Indian ink. The wood of the tree is good only for the purposes of the turner.
The BniANcox A., Prunus brigantiaea, very much resembles the common A. The fruit is glabrous. It is found in Dauphine and Piedmont. At Briancon, an oil, called huile de marmotte, is expressed from the seeds.
The SIBERIAN A., P. sibirica, is also very like the common A., but smaller in all its parts. The fruit is small. It is a native of Siberia, especially of the southern slopes of the mountains of Dahuria.
The A. plum is an excellent kind of plum, much cultivated in some parts of France, and which, preserved in sugar, dried, and packed in shallow boxes, forms a considerable article of trade.