Pessegueiro (Prunus Persica)

A tree of the Rosaceae family, subfamily Prunoideas, widely cultivated in Madeira. It originates from China and Afghanistan, and produces very tasty fruits, either glabrous or covered with pubescence. The former characterize the variety laevis, and are known as bald peaches, with the stones easily separable from the sarcocarp (bald molar peaches) or strongly adherent to the sarcocarp. In the peaches covered with pubescence, the stones are also, at times, very or slightly adherent to the sarcocarp, the former being called donkey peaches or durazios, and the latter molar peaches. The pericarp of these fruits can be yellow or white. The best peaches in Madeira are produced in Santana, Calheta, Arco da Calheta, and Fajã da Ovelha; those produced in Funchal are generally of poor quality and often attacked by the larvae of various Diptera. Peaches ripen from July to September.