Common apricot, or apricot.

Common apricot or apricot

A large tree of the Rosaceae family, 3-17 m high. The crown is irregular in shape. The trunk is gray-brown with cracking bark on old trees.

The branches are bare, the leaves are large, alternate, elliptical, serrated along the edges. The petioles are dark red, long, grooved. Blooms in early spring.

The flowers are solitary, white or pinkish, with red sepals, and bloom before the leaves. The fruit is round, yellow or orange, sometimes reddish, with a longitudinal groove. The seeds (pits) are flat, light brown, bitter or sweet.

Ripen in June – July.

The common apricot is widespread in Central Asia and Dagestan. Grows in river valleys, among bushes, on rocky and gravelly slopes, singly or in groups.

It is cultivated in Russia, America, Australia, Hungary and Iran in subtropical and temperate climates.

The wood is suitable for carpentry work as it lends itself well to polishing. The bark of the roots is used to dye silk an apricot color.

The gum protruding from the cracks of the trunks is used to prepare emulsions. The fatty oil is included in the Pharmacopoeia, 10th edition, and serves as a base for liquid ointments. Black paint is made from burnt seeds.

The cake is given to livestock in small quantities. Apricot trees are used to strengthen slopes and screes.

The bark contains tannins, the wood contains flavonoids.

Carbohydrates, vitamin C, phenol carbonic acids and flavonoids are found in the leaves, and carotene in the flowers. The fruits contain carbohydrates (sucrose, etc.), gum, organic acids (malic and citric), carotenoids, vitamins B1 and C, folic acid, tannins, catechins, flavonoids, and a large number of microelements, the main of which is potassium.

Nitrogen-containing compounds (amygdalin, hydrocyanic acid), essential and fatty oils were found in the seeds. The latter contains oleic, linolenic, arachidic and other acids.

The presence of a large amount of iron determines the medicinal value of apricots for anemia, diseases of the cardiovascular system and others, which are accompanied by the development of potassium deficiency.

It is believed that 100 g of apricots have the same effect on hematopoiesis as 40 mg of iron or 250 g of fresh liver. Apricot fruits are used to enhance digestion, thin mucus in dry coughs, as a gentle laxative, thirst quencher and antipyretic, as well as for long-term use of diuretics. They are especially necessary for children, as they stimulate growth and improve health.

“Apricot milk” is produced from the seeds. It is used as an antitussive for whooping cough, bronchitis, hiccups, inflammation of the trachea, tumors of the pharynx and kidneys.

To treat heart disease, the fruit seeds are brewed as tea.

In their raw form they are anthelmintic.