Editing Peach (section)

=== Fruit ===
Trees can begin producing fruit in the two or three years after sprouting.{{sfn|Zheng|Crawford|Chen|2014|p=2–3}} Because of the hardness of the seed casing peaches are called stone fruits like the others in the ''Prunus'' genus, but are more formally called [[drupe]]s.{{sfn|Thakur et al. 2024|p=101}} Fruits range in color from greenish white to orange yellow, usually with a blush of red on the side of the fruit most exposed to the sun. Their shape varies wildly from a flattened sphere resembling a doughnut, egg shaped, or a slightly compressed sphere usually with a seam on one side. A normal diameter for a fruit is between {{convert|5 and 7|cm|0|sp=us}}, but sometimes they may be as small as {{cvt|3|cm}} or as large as {{cvt|12|cm}}.{{sfn|Lingdi|Bartholomew|2003}}

[[Image:Drupe fruit diagram.svg|lang=en|thumb|upright=1.25|Diagram of a peach, showing both fruit and seed]]
The flesh of the peach is quite variable in color from greenish-white to white to yellow to dark red.{{sfn|Byrne et al. 2009|p=532}} The texture can also differ, melting, nonmelting, or stony hard all possible.{{sfn|Byrne et al. 2009|p=507}}

The growth of the fruit is a double-sigmoid growth curve: a beginning quick period of development followed by a resting period of little growth and then a second period of rapid growth.{{sfn|Faust|Timon|1995|p=334}}

The seed of the peach is much larger and less round than the seeds of its closest living relatives.{{sfn|Zheng|Crawford|Chen|2014|p=3}} Unlike the pit of an almond, which is only pitted, the peach pit's stony exterior is both pitted and deeply furrowed.{{sfn|Given et al. 2024}}