Apricot or Peach: how to tell them apart?
Apricot and Peach look alike and are often mixed up. Here is how to tell them apart, feature by feature, with their photos and the details to look for.
⚡ The quick answer
Apricot
Prunus armeniaca
Peach
Prunus persica
Before the leaves appear, it is hard to tell these two early-flowering Prunus apart. The apricot generally flowers a little earlier (from February) with white, barely pinkish flowers borne almost stalkless against the wood, whereas the peach flowers in March-April with pinker flowers borne on a short green pedicel.
🍃 Leaves
Ovate to heart-shaped at the base, finely toothed, reddish petiole
Lanceolate, long-pointed, finely toothed, glossy green
🌸 Flowers
White to pinkish, single, appearing before the leaves
Pink, single, with 5 petals, appearing before the leaves
🍎 Fruits
Downy orange drupe (apricot) with a smooth stone
Fleshy, downy drupe (peach), with a furrowed stone
🪵 Bark
Reddish-brown, peeling in scales with age
Reddish-brown, smooth then cracking with age
📏 Size
4 to 8 m tall
4 to 6 m tall
🗺️ Habitat
Orchards and gardens, especially in a Mediterranean climate
Orchards and gardens; grown throughout temperate Europe
⚠️ Toxicity
Flesh of the fruit edible. The kernels inside the stone contain cyanogenic compounds and should not be eaten in large quantities.
Flesh of the fruit edible; the stone, leaves and bark contain amygdalin (a cyanide precursor), toxic in large quantities
🔎 And from the Peach side
Before the leaves appear, these two early-flowering Prunus are hard to tell apart. Peach flowers in March – April with pink flowers borne on a short green pedicel, whereas apricot generally flowers earlier (from February) with white, barely pinkish flowers borne almost stalkless against the wood.
🌿 Go further
Want to practise spotting these details on real photos? Floraneo offers profiles and quizzes for dozens of look-alike species.
ℹ️ Educational profile — do not use it to judge whether a plant is edible or safe.