The peach (Prunus persica) is a deciduous tree native to the region of Northwest China between the Tarim Basin and the north slopes of the Kunlun Mountains, where it was first domesticated and cultivated. It bears edible juicy fruits with various characteristics called peaches and others (the glossy-skinned varieties) and nectarines. Prunus persica grows up to 7 m (23 ft) tall and wide, but trees are usually 3–4 m (10–13 ft) tall and wide when pruned properly. The fruit has yellow or whitish flesh, a delicate aroma, and skin velvety (peaches) or smooth (nectarines) in different cultivars. Peaches, along with cherries, plums, and apricots, are stone fruits (drupes).
In botany, a fruit is a seed-bearing structure in flowering plants formed from the ovary after flowering.
Fruits are how flowering plants disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits, in particular, have long propagated using the movements of humans and animals in a symbiotic relationship that is the means for seed dispersal for the one group and nutrition for the other; in fact, humans and many animals have become dependent on fruits as a source of food.