Almond is a small tree or shrub of the Almond subgenus of the genus Plum, which belongs to the Rosaceae family of the order Rosaceae. In fact, almonds are a stone fruit, not a nut, as many believe.
The Pink family has amazingly beautiful blooms. In the spring, you can observe parks and gardens drowning in white and pink flowers, at this time cherries, apricots, peaches, plums, cherries, apples, quince, pears, mountain ash and, of course, almonds bloom. These fruit trees belong to the Pink family. Of course, the listed trees do not exhaust the diversity of this family, because it numbers about 3 thousand different species. The Pink family includes not only trees, but also various shrubs and shrubs (hawthorn, rose hips, raspberries, thorns, blackberries) and even herbaceous plants (gravilat, cinquefoil, strawberries).
These plants in a family combine the features of the structure of flowers. All flowers have a double perianth, the calyx is always formed by 5 fused sepals, and the corolla consists of 5 free petals. The number of stamens in pinks exceeds 11, while the number of pistils can be different, for example, in cherry it is one, and in raspberry - several. Pink flowers can be either single or collected in inflorescences. Cherry flowers are collected in umbrellas, apple and rowan flowers - in shields, bird cherry - in brushes. Almond flowers are single, reach 2.5 cm in diameter, are white or light pink. They have numerous stamens, but only one pistil. Flower corollas can be red or pink. An interesting feature of almonds is their early flowering, most often the flowers bloom before the leaves appear.
The fruits of the Rose family can be very different. For example, sweet cherries, plums, peaches, cherries or almonds have a simple drupe, blackberries and raspberries have a composite drupe, and quince, pear and apple trees form a multi-seeded juicy fruit.
The fruit of the almond is a dry, velvety-pubescent oval monoscrew with a green leathery fleshy pericarp, which is inedible. When ripe, the pericarp is easily separated from the bone itself. It is these bones that are considered "almonds". They contain fatty oils (up to 60%), proteins (30%), vitamins, mucus, coloring substances - lycopene, carotene, carotenoids and others, and essential oil (about 0.7%), which is responsible for a delicate, rich smell.
Almonds usually grow in groups of 3-4 individuals, which are located at a distance of 5-8 meters from each other. It is a very light-loving plant that is highly drought tolerant due to its extremely developed root system.
