The apricot (Prunus armeniaca), once thought to be native to Armenia, is actually indigenous to China, where it has been cultivated for at least four thousand years. Its culture spread through Asia by ancient travelers along the Silk Road and reached the Mediterranean during Roman times. Thomas Jefferson set out apricot trees in his orchard at Monticello as early as 1778, and the British explorer George Vancouver found apricot trees growing at the Spanish mission of Santa Clara, California, in 1792. The apricot, with its early-blooming habit, flourishes in the soil and climate of California. There, after the gold rush, the world’s largest apricot industry developed in areas relatively free of spring frosts, which is the limiting factor for commercial production east of the Rockies. About 95 percent of American-grown apricots originate in California.
