Peach
Prunus persica
A small, short-lived tree with long, narrow, finely toothed leaves that fold upward along the midrib, flowering deep pink on bare one-year-old wood before the leaves break. The fruit is a downy, single-stoned drupe with soft yellow or white flesh around a deeply furrowed stone. Nectarines are the same species with smooth skin. In Britain it is a garden and orchard tree rather than a wild one, picked for eating fresh, poaching and preserving.
Not native and not naturalised in Britain or Ireland. Grown in gardens, orchards and glasshouses, usually fan-trained against a warm south- or west-facing wall in southern and eastern districts where the wood ripens well enough to set fruit.
The flesh is safe raw. The kernel inside the stone contains cyanogenic amygdalin, so stones should not be cracked for the seed or ground into pastes. Peach is a common trigger of oral allergy syndrome in people sensitive to birch pollen, causing itching or swelling of the lips and mouth. Almost every British tree is garden or orchard stock, so ask the owner before picking.
Always use more than one reference to confirm a plant. You are responsible for what you choose to forage.
Blossom
Deep pink, five-petalled flowers sitting almost stalkless directly on bare wood in March or April, before any leaf appears. Plums and cherries flower white and on distinct stalks, and their leaves are usually breaking at the same time.
Leaves
Lanceolate, 8–15 cm long and only 2–4 cm wide, finely toothed, and folded upward along the midrib into a shallow keel rather than lying flat. Small glands sit where the blade meets the short leaf stalk.
Fruit skin
A dense, fine down over the whole surface, so the fruit feels dry and slightly matt to the hand rather than slippery. A smooth, glossy-skinned fruit on an otherwise identical tree is a nectarine, the same species.
Stone
Large, flattened and deeply pitted and grooved all over, hard enough to resist a knife. Plum and cherry stones are smooth to faintly ridged, so the surface of a split stone settles the identification of windfall fruit.
Ripeness in the hand
Ripe fruit yields to gentle pressure at the shoulder near the stalk and gives off a strong scent; it parts from the spur with a slight upward twist. Fruit that has to be pulled is not ready and will not improve indoors.
Updated 2026-08-07T21:15:27.754Z · Part of the shared Foragers Log catalogue · Fruit