Prunus mira

Prunus mira, the smooth stone peach, smooth-pit peach or Tibetan peach, and locally called behmi, behimi or tirul, is a species of Prunus native to the foothills of the Himalayas and the Tibetan plateau, at elevations typically between 2600 and 3000m, but ranging from 2000 to 4000m.

Description

Prunus mira grows to 8-12m tall and the trunks 16cm in diameter. The leaves are lanceolate, 5–10cm long and 1.2–4cm wide. The flowers are pinkish white. The 2-by-3cm ovoid fruit has white flesh. As the common name suggests, the stone is smooth.

Uses

The trees are cultivated in some parts of their native range, for their fruit, their seeds, and for their seed oil, which is used for cooking and hair oil. The rootstocks are used for almonds and for dwarfing peach trees, and are resistant to powdery mildew.