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Nectarine (Dwarf)
Prunus persica nucipersica
A smooth-skinned form of the peach, differing from it chiefly in having no down on the fruit; the flesh is white to deep yellow, sweet and scented, clinging to or parting from a deeply pitted stone according to cultivar. Dwarf selections stay a compact bush of 1–1.5 m, carry pink flowers on bare wood in early spring, and are grown in pots or trained against a warm wall.
Not a wild plant in Britain and Ireland. Grown in gardens and allotments, in containers on sheltered patios, in unheated greenhouses, and fan-trained against south- or west-facing walls. It needs warmth and free drainage, and does not persist outside cultivation.
The flesh is safe to eat. The stone is not: the kernel contains amygdalin, which releases cyanide when chewed or crushed, so discard stones rather than using them for flavouring. Leaves and twigs are cyanogenic too. Fruit of this group is a frequent trigger of oral allergy symptoms in people sensitive to birch pollen.
Always use more than one reference to confirm a plant. You are responsible for what you choose to forage.
Fruit skin
Glossy and completely hairless, usually red-flushed over cream or yellow. This is the one feature that separates it from a peach, whose skin is finely velvety; the fruits are otherwise the same plant and often slightly smaller.
Leaves
Long, narrow and lance-shaped, roughly 8–15 cm, finely toothed and folded along the midrib, opening after the flowers. Spring foliage is often puckered and reddened by peach leaf curl, which disfigures leaves without making the fruit unsafe.
Flowers
Pink, five-petalled and almost stalkless, opening on bare wood in February or March. Flowering this early means outdoor trees usually need frost protection and hand pollination to set fruit in the UK.
Growth habit
Genetic dwarf cultivars form a dense, congested bush 1–1.5 m tall with very short internodes and leaves crowded along the shoots; trees simply grafted on a dwarfing rootstock are taller and more openly branched.
Stone
Large, deeply pitted and grooved, parting cleanly from the flesh in freestone cultivars and held fast in clingstones. Prise it out and discard it whole; the kernel is bitter and cyanogenic.
Updated 2026-08-08T06:52:54.276Z · Part of the shared Foragers Log catalogue · Fruit