A hardy tree, bearing stone fruit, closely related to the peach. The leaves are broad and roundish, with pointed apex; smooth; margin, finely serrated; petiole 1/2 inch to an inch long, generally tinged with red. The flowers are sessile, white, tinged with the same dusky red that appears on the petiole, with five regular sepals and petals and many stamens, and open very early in the spring. The fruit, is a drupe, like the plum, with a thin outer, downy skin enclosing the yellow flesh (mesocarp), the inner layers becoming woody and forming the large, smooth, compressed stone, the ovule ripening into the kernel, or seed.

Antiinflammatory and antiseptic (salted fruit); antipyretic, antiseptic, emetic, ophthalmic; analgesic, anthelmintic, antiasthmatic, antispasmodic, antitussive, demulcent, emollient, expectorant, pectoral, sedative and vulnerary (seed)

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Acetic acid, alpha-terpineol, geranial, geraniol, limonene, myrcene, terpinolene (essential oil); alanine, amylase, arginine, ascorbic acid, aspartic acid, benzyl-alcohol, chlorogenic acid, citric acid, cystine, folacin, fructose, glutamic acid, glycine, histidine, isoleucine, isoquercitrin, lycopene, lysine, malic acid, methionine, palmitic acid, pantothenic acid, phenylalanine, stearic acid, succinic acid, tannin, tryptophan, tyrosine, valine (fruit); amygdalin, beta-sitosterol, campesterol, dextrose, estrone, pangamic acid, squalene (seed); beta-carotene, linoleic acid, niacin, oleic acid, thiamin (fruit, seed); caffeic acid, cyanidin, p-coumaric acid, quercetin, sorbitol (plant); kaempferol, p-cymene, rutin (leaf)

Used for treating poisoning caused by eating bitter almond and apricot seeds (inner bark or seeds); to soothe inflamed and irritated skin conditions (decoction); in the treatment of asthma, coughs, acute or chronic bronchitis and constipation (seed)

Sharma PV. Classical Uses of Medicinal Plants.