Editing Peach (section)

==== Nectarines ====
[[File:White nectarine and cross section02 edit.jpg|thumb|White nectarines, whole and cut open]]

The cultivars commonly called ''nectarines'' have a smooth skin. It is on occasion referred to as a "shaved peach" or "fuzzless peach", due to its lack of fuzz or short hairs. Though fuzzy peaches and nectarines are regarded commercially as different fruits, with nectarines often erroneously believed to be a crossbreed between peaches and [[plum]]s, or a "peach with a plum skin", nectarines belong to the same species as peaches. Several genetic studies have concluded nectarines are produced due to a [[recessive allele]], whereas a fuzzy peach skin is [[dominant gene|dominant]].{{sfn|Seelig|Fogle|Hesse|2007}}

As with peaches, nectarines can be white or yellow, and clingstone or freestone. On average, nectarines are slightly smaller and sweeter than peaches, but with much overlap.{{sfn|Seelig|Fogle|Hesse|2007}} The lack of skin fuzz can make nectarine skins appear more reddish than those of peaches, contributing to the fruit's plum-like appearance. The lack of down on nectarines' skin also means their skin is more easily bruised than peaches.

The history of the nectarine is unclear; the first recorded mention in English is from 1611,{{sfn|OED 2025a}} but they had probably been grown much earlier within the native range of the peach in central and eastern Asia. A number of colonial-era newspaper articles make reference to nectarines being grown in the United States prior to the Revolutionary War. The 28 March 1768 edition of the ''New York Gazette'' (p.&nbsp;3), for example, mentions a farm in Jamaica, Long Island, New York, where nectarines were grown. Later, cultivars of higher quality with better shipping qualities were introduced to the United States by [[David Fairchild]] of the Department of Agriculture in 1906.{{sfn|Fairchild|Kay|Kay|1938|p=226}}