Peach
Prunus persica
By: Stephany Mendoza
By: Stephany Mendoza
How do you feel knowing that your immortal?
More than a thousand years ago it was believed that if you ate a peach you would be immoral because the tree took more than 3,000 years to blossom and more than 3,000 years to ripen.
There is a lot of history surrounding the peach in the Chinese culture some of which are tales said that Chinese folks held.
In photo could you have known which one was from back in the day and which one was recent? No, me neither. The difference in size mainly comes from how the peaches are made which affects how big they grow. Peaches weren't the biggest fruit, but thanks to artificial breeding they are bigger and more plumped.
Fossilized Peach Stones (~ 2.6 MA) - Ancient wild ancestor found in Yunnan Province, China
Pliocene Epoch (~ 2.6 MA) - stones found in Southwest China, when larger fruits started to show the difference in size and shape of the peaches before humans domesticated
Neolithic period (~7,500 - 8,000 years ago) - was the first cultivating date in China
Holocene Epoch (4,000 to 7,500 years ago) - cultivation and domestication of peaches in China, the peach stones look more larger and compressed (like how they are now)
Archean Eon (~ 3.8 BYA) - LUCA, where the peach gets its genetic coding
Proterozoic Eon (~ 2.1 BYA) - Endosymbiosis occurs that allows the separation of plants and animals
Green Lineage (~ 1.6 BYA) - Chloroplast occurs allowing for the plant to perform photosynthesis
Paleozoic Era (~500 MA) - allows for plants to come from ocean to land letting plants have a vascular system
Prunus perisica var. persica
Prunus persica var. nucipersica
Prunus ferganensis
LUCA
~ 4.2 BYA
Genetic coding
Early Eukaryotic Cells
~ 1.5 - 2.1 BYA
Single - celled
Endosynthesis
~ 1.6 BYA
Green algae cell appear from cyanobacterium and endosynthesis
Genetic Innovation (Cell adhesion genes, communication pathways, and development regulation genes)
Multicellular
~ 1.2 BYA
Colonical Living (Cells stick after division and early signaling between cells develops)
Cellular Specialization
~ 1.0 BYA
Multicellular Green Algae (Cells stop being dependent, minimal specialization, and seen in some algae and early eukaryotes)
Complex Multicellular
~ 540 MA
Cambrian Explosion and rapid diverification of animals (Germ (reproductive) cells and somatic (body) cells)
Angiosperms
~ 140 MA
Jurassic Period (flowering plants) changes how plants reproduce and having seeds get covered by their protective fruits
Rosaceae Family
~ 90 MA
Common ancestor of plant diversity (Dryadiodeae, Rosoideae, and Amygdaloideae)
Subfamily (Amygdaleae)
~ 50 MA
Has high baseline diploid genome
Subgenus (Amygdalus)
~ 8 - 10 MA
The genus adapts to humid weather making the fruit sweet and juicy
Early Wild Peaches
~ 7,500 - 8,000 years ago
Cultivating and selecting wild peach
Modern Prunus persica
~ 5,000 years ago
Selective breeding making the peach larger by domestication