Peaches arrived in Greece through Persia about 2,500 B. P. and in Rome 500 years later. The Romans named the fruit persica, assuming Persia to have been the center of origin of peaches. Peach tree is portrayed in the domus wall paintings of the towns destroyed by the Vesuvius eruption of 79 AD.
The Romans spread peaches throughout their empire.The peach is said to have been first cultivated in England about the middle of the sixteenth century, Gerard describes several varieties of peach as growing in his garden. Tusser mentions it among his list of fruits in 1557.
The peach came to Florida, Mexico and South America in the mid-1500s via Spanish and Portuguese explorers. It became feral in the southeastern United States and Mexico, and was further spread throughout North America by the Native Americans.
For centuries the cultivation and selection of new varieties of peaches were largely confined to the gardens of the nobility, and it was only after the American Revolution in the 1770s when clonal propagation of peaches became a common technique.
Several peach cultivars were released between the 1770s and 1860s from selected seedling of unknown parentage.
A number of cultivars of unknown origin were released in the first half of the 1800s including Early Crawford, Late Crawford and Oldmixon Cling.
About 1850, Charles Downing introduced peaches directly from China to North America, from which emerged the Chinese Cling. After Civil War, Samuel Rumph planted Chinese Cling in Marshallville, Georgia and released two important cultivars from that field, Elberta and Belle of Georgia.
Global trade has brought peach tree cultivation into both the Northern and Southern hemispheres which experience opposite summers and winters allowing for year-round availability.
History and origin of peaches
