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Old 22-02-2003, 05:56 PM
P van Rijckevorsel
 
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Default Are apple and peach genetically related (and how)?

Are apple and peach genetically related (and how)?

As I am not a biologist, I tried to simply google this. People say apple,

peach and quince are closely related,

Iris Cohen schreef
Apples, peaches, & quince are all members of the rose family, Rosaceae.

You don't really need a table for this. In the spring, go out & look at
apple & peach trees. If there are no peach trees around, look at cherry
trees & compare them to apples. Look at some other members of the rose
family, like single flowered roses, hawthorns, shadbush, flowering quince,
whatever grows in your area. You will soon see the traits they have in
common. Next fall, look at rose hips and compare them with apples.
Apples, quince, and pears are closely related. Some authorities place them

all in the genus Malus. They are known as pome fruits because the fruits all
have the same structure, five small seeds enclosed in a hard fibrous
container inside an edible fruit.
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Anyway they are in the same subfamily, Maloideae, a coherent unit with
somewhat uncertain generic delimitation
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Peaches nowadays are placed in the genus Prunus, along

with cherries, almonds, plums, apricots, & all the other stone fruits. They
all have an edible fruit with one hard seed in the middle, except the
almond, which has a thin rudimentary fruit and a hard-coated edible seed.
They have many traits in common with apples: five petals, five stamens,
alternate leaves, etc.
Iris,

+ + +
Technically the hard stuff is part of the fruit, and the actual seed is
inside the hard stuff in all cases. Just nitpicking. ;-)
PvR