The seemingly inexplicable origin of Prunus persica has confounded naturalists and divided the botanical community for centuries.

The nectarine, or Prunus persica var. nucipersica, is a smooth-skinned peach variety named for its resemblance to the walnut. Relegated to a “weakened form” of peach by Alphonse de Candolle, genetic mutation and inhibited trichome formation segregate the downless nectarine from other prunus persica varieties.

The peach and its diverse forms are native to China, where the development of its primordial ancestors long precede the advent of man. Once domesticated, the prolific peach was cultivated throughout the country for millennia prior to the onset of worldwide expansion. Viable peach seeds traversed the Silk Road and were disseminated initially into Persia—Rome was next to acquire the peach, which they erroneously attributed to Persia (hence persica). European dispersal and widespread cultivation of the prized “Persian fruit” soon commenced and spread outward through Greece, thence to Italy and France.

Carl Linnaeus assigned the early scientific designation Amygdalus persica L. to the peach due to similarities shared with the almond. Contention came in the wake of his classification, and even after amending his designation, controversy did not cease. Conflicting theories regarding the relationship between the species set botanists against their fellows. Had the peach truly descended from almonds?

Advocates for inclusion of the peach into the almond subgenus clashed in the pomological arena against refuters, who based their denial on geobotanical evidence. Charles Darwin rose as an ardent integrationist, proposing that the peach was a “descendant of almond, improved and modified in a marvelous manner.”

Conflict pertaining to the evolutionary development of the peach went without resolution until the present era, wherein modern advancements in genome sequencing have enabled researchers to revisit the conundrum and deliver long-awaited clarity. Genome comparison now confirms an ancestral link connecting the peach and almond, revealing their divergence from a single, ancient source in Central Asia millions of years ago.