Almond

Cultivated almond varieties are named by whether the seed is sweet or bitter and whether the stone is hard or fragile; names used for them include var. amara, var. dulcis and var. fragilis, now treated as synonyms of the species.

A tree or shrub (2–)3–6(–8) m tall with lanceolate, finely serrate leaves 3–6 cm long. Solitary flowers open before the leaves, with white or pinkish petals; the drupe is obliquely ovoid, compressed, 3–4.3 cm, densely downy, its thin mesocarp splitting at maturity around a hard to fragile stone; the seed is sweet or bitter.