Briancon apricot

Photo: Pancrace Bessa — Public domain · source

Survives zone 6 through 9

Harvest calendar

Best planted in early spring after your last frost, or in fall before the ground freezes, depending on your climate.

Also called Alpine apricot — a mountain species of the French and Italian Alps, smooth-skinned unlike the fuzzy common apricot. Historically important for its seed oil, 'huile de marmotte', once used as an olive-oil substitute in French Alpine cooking and for lamp fuel. ⚠ Kernels/pits cyanogenic — the oil is a processed product, not raw eating.

Hardiness

Zone 6–9

Habit

Tree

Edible part

Fruit

Ripens

Aug–Sept

Mature size

To 6 m (20 ft)

Light

Full sun

Soil pH

5.5–6.5 (mildly acid)

Environment

Alpine to montane

Native range

French and Italian Alps.

Status

Wild

Years to fruit

4–5 yrs

Growth speed

Medium

Spacing

450 cm (177 in) apart — about 20 m² (218 sq ft) per plant

Leaf shape

Alternate, lance-shaped to obovate, finely and sharply toothed, with a pair of small glands (extrafloral nectaries) on the leaf stalk near the blade — a Prunus signature worth learning, since it separates the genus from most look-alikes.

Root system

Worth knowing that in cultivation this is usually the rootstock's root system, not the species' — most Prunus are sold grafted, and vigour, suckering and soil tolerance follow the stock rather than the top. On its own roots the species is shallow-rooted, with the bulk in the top 40–60 cm spreading well beyond the canopy, so it dislikes cultivation underneath and competes badly with grass.

Fruit description

Yellow plum-like fruit, about 3 cm across, smooth skin

Propagation

Seed (2–3 months cold stratification, up to 18 months to germinate), half-ripe cuttings in July–August, softwood cuttings in spring, or layering.

Pollination

Insect-pollinated.

The edible parts listed above are a starting point, not a field guide. Identify a plant with certainty — ideally against a local authority — before eating any part of it, and read the full disclaimer. Spotted something wrong? Report it.