From childhood, I thought the nectarine was a cross between a peach and a plum. This is what I was told and this is what everyone believed. I thought it was a relative newcomer, recently developed, maybe sometime in the 1960s. I never was a fan of peaches, except in peach cobbler, but I did like nectarines which, to my mind, must have been because of the influence of the plum. Oddly enough, I didn’t like plums either and still don’t. I remember when nectarines were not available for sale where I lived. This is all odd since the nectarine is not a cross between a peach and a plum, but a true peach without its fuzz, and has been cultivated since ancient times, having been known to the Romans. It turns out that my ignorance is understandable.
The Name Nectarine
The name nectarine has been used for this fruit since the 1600s. We most likely got our English name for it from the German nektarpfirsich or “nectar-peach.” This refers to the divine drink of the Greek Gods, nektar, i.e. the “drink of the Gods.”
Origin of the Peach-Plum Hybrid Belief
The origin of the nectarine is a bit fuzzy (the puns just fall right out). The first thing I was curious about was where the belief about it being a peach-plum hybrid originated and I ran up against a stone wall. At first, every source I found simply pointed out that this was not true and moved on.
After some more digging, I found out that scientists did believe that the nectarine was a hybrid of a peach and a plum, but by the late 1800s, this was no longer the case. There are numerous references in horticultural books of the 1800s pointing out that the nectarine is simply a type of peach.
I did find that the nectarine has been compared to a plum since the 1800s here in the states, even after horticulturists and botanists were well aware that it was not.
Since marketers of the fruit also helpfully pointed out that the nectarine “in flavor resembles a cross between a peach and a plum” I think we can surmise that the public just misunderstood. And, it is true. The nectarine does have a flavor that resembles a peach crossed with a plum, and even the color of its flesh could lead us to believe that. Even today, the belief that nectarine is a hybrid persists enough that I’ve even found it asserted in scientific books, even one on the science of DNA!
The Nectarine is a True Peach, Without Fuzz
But, the nectarine, which is sometimes called a subspecies of peach, is a “sport” of the peach. A sport is a genetic mutation that occurs in one single bud or shoot of a fruit tree. This can result in a branch of the tree having different characteristics, or and results in a fruit with different characteristis, such as different color flowers. It can also result in fruit with a different characteristics.
Indeed, nectarines can spontaneously grow on peach tree and nectarine seeds (pits) may grow into a tree that bears peaches, fuzz, and all. Nectarine seeds are not planted because of this. You don’t know what you are going to get. Instead, a nectarine tree must be grafted onto an existing tree. A nectarine tree may occasionally yield a peach. Sometimes, peaches and nectarines grow on the same branch.
In the past, it was often asserted that a nectarine would grow on a peach tree because the peach tree was growing close enough to a nectarine tree that the two cross-pollinated. Of course, this was claimed by people who had no evidence of a nectarine and peach tree growing close together. Nectarines, instead, happen spontaneously on regular old peach trees. I wish one had happened on the peach tree that grew on our land when I was a child. It would have been such a discovery!
Nectarine Genetics
The scientific name of the nectarine is Prunus persica var. nucipersica. Since the name of the peach is Prunus persica we see that the nectarine is desginated as a variety of peach. Both are native to China and nectarines were probably domesticated in China 4000 years ago, Today, however, there is very little nectarine cultivation in China and peach cultivation and cross-breeding in the US far exceeds anything done there.
The reason nectarines lack fuzz is because they have two copies of a recessive gene that codes for the absence of fuzz or “pubescence.” Ordinarily, if a gene is recessive, a dominant gene will override it. Peaches with fuzz are heterozygous for this gene, meaning that one dominant gene that codes for fuzz is in control. 1Encyclopedia of Cultivated Plants: From Acacia to Zinnia [3 Volumes]. United States, Bloomsbury Publishing, 2013.
The existence of this recessive factor was discovered in 1906 and confirmed in 1936 when Blake and Conners designated the recessive gene as allele n. This means all nectarines have two copies, nn, on their chromosome, while the peach has an Nn. In 1947, further research was done by Derman on chimeras which helped clarify the behavior of various bud mutations that led to nectarines on peach trees. This ended any question about the relationship of the nectarine to the peach. 2Foods and Food Production Encyclopedia. Switzerland, Springer US, 2012.
Differences Between Nectarines and Peaches
While the gene codes for fuzz, the differences don’t stop there. Nectarines were originally smaller than peaches. They are sweeter than peaches. They are also more delicate than peaches and more susceptible to mold and rot. The lack of fuzz, which is normally protective, makes them more vulnerable to insects and bruises more easily. Nectarines can, however, like peaches be freestone or clingstone, meaning the pit may or may not cling to the flesh of the fruit. 1Encyclopedia of Cultivated Plants: From Acacia to Zinnia [3 Volumes]. United States, Bloomsbury Publishing, 2013.,2Foods and Food Production Encyclopedia. Switzerland, Springer US, 2012.,3Robinson, William. The Horticulturist. N.p., Applewood Books, 2009.
Today, there are over 100 varieties of nectarines and they can be red, white, or yellow. However, the most important variety that started the nectarine trade as we know it today was the 1942 “Le Grand” variety, developed by F.W. Anderson, a private breeder in Merced, California. Most of today’s nectarines can be traced back to Anderson’s Le Grand, if not one of his other varieties. Today, he is known as the “father of the nectarine industry.”
Anderson also released such cultivars as Sun Grand, Red Grand, Grand Haven, May Grand, Early Sun Grand, Summer Grand, Spring Grand, Red June, and others. By the 1970s, his nectarines dominated the industry and over 90% of nectarines grown in California were his varieties. 4The Peach: Botany, Production and Uses. United Kingdom, CABI, 2008.
