Prunus dulcis D.A.Webb

Trees, not suckering, 50–80 dm, not thorny. Twigs with terminal end buds, glabrous. Leaves deciduous; petiole (8–)10–25 mm, ?usually winged distally?, glabrous, usually glandular distally or on margins at bases of blades; blade oblong to lanceolate, 2.5–10 × 1–3 cm, base obtuse, margins crenulate-serrulate to crenate-serrate, teeth blunt, glandular, apex acuminate, surfaces glabrous. Inflorescences solitary flowers or 2-flowered fascicles. Pedicels 1–5 mm, glabrous. Flowers blooming before leaf emergence; hypanthium cupulate, 4–7 mm, glabrous externally; sepals erect-spreading to spreading, oblong-ovate, 4–8 mm, margins entire, ?tomentose?, surfaces glabrous; petals pink to nearly white, obovate, elliptic, or suborbiculate, 12–25 mm; ovaries hairy. Drupes gray-green, ovoid-oblong, ?compressed?, 25–40 mm, velutinous; mesocarps leathery (splitting); stones ellipsoid, strongly flattened, ?pitted?. 2n = 16.

Cultivated ground, thickets, hedges, rocky places near cultivation. Mountainous areas, favouring sunny slopes, woody shrubby formations, often forming rather large underbrush, in stony and fine earth rubble; at elevations from 800-1,600 metres.

The oil from the kernel can be bitter and contains HCN which needs to be removed by heating. The oil is used as food flavouring. The kernels of sweet kinds is eaten. They can be eaten fresh of dried, crushed, flaked, ground and used as ingredients. The nuts can be blended with water to form almond milk, made into almond butter or pressed for their edible oil. The oil is used in salads.

Almond trees cannot pollinate themselves. For good fruit set pollinating cultivars are planted along with others.