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'''LRD''' can stand for:
{{dablink|For the [[computer]] company, see [[Apricot Computers]].}}
{{Taxobox_begin | color = lightgreen | name = Apricot}}
{{Taxobox_image | image = [[Image:Apricots.jpg|240px]] | caption = Apricot fruit}}
{{Taxobox_begin_placement | color = lightgreen}}
{{Taxobox_regnum_entry | taxon = [[Plant]]ae}}
{{Taxobox_divisio_entry | taxon = [[Flowering plant|Magnoliophyta]]}}
{{Taxobox_classis_entry | taxon = [[Magnoliopsida]]}}
{{Taxobox_ordo_entry | taxon = [[Rosales]]}}
{{Taxobox_familia_entry | taxon = [[Rosaceae]]}}
{{Taxobox_genus_entry | taxon = ''[[Prunus]]''}}
{{Taxobox_species_entry | taxon = '''''P. armeniaca'''''}}
{{Taxobox_end_placement}}
{{Taxobox section binomial botany | color = lightgreen | binomial_name = Prunus armeniaca | author = [[Francisco Manuel Blanco|Blanco]]}}
{{Taxobox_end}}
*The [[Labour Research Department]], a United Kingdom trade union based research organisation
The '''Apricot''' is a [[fruit]]-bearing [[tree]] of the [[species]] ''Prunus armeniaca'', in the same [[subgenus]] ''Prunus'' subgen. ''Prunus'' as the [[plum]], and also the name of the fruit it produces. The apricot tree is small to medium sized and produces a spreading, dense [[canopy]] 8-12 m tall; its [[leaf|leaves]] are shaped somewhat like a [[heart]], with pointed tips, and about 8 cm long and 3-4 cm wide. Its [[flower]]s are [[white]] to [[pink]]ish in colour. The fruit appears similar to a [[peach]] or [[nectarine]], with a colour ranging from [[yellow]] to [[orange (colour)|orange]] and sometimes a [[red]] cast; its surface is smooth and nearly hairless. Apricots are [[stone fruit]]s ([[drupe]]s), and have only one [[seed]] each, often called a "stone".
*The [[ISO 4217]] code for the [[Liberian dollar]]
*[[Les Rythmes Digitales]]
{{TLAdisambig}}
==Cultivation==
The apricot originated in northeastern [[China]] near the [[Russia|Russian]] border, not in [[Armenia]] as the scientific name suggests. It did arrive in Armenia after moving through central Asia, which took about 3,000 years. The [[Ancient Rome|Romans]] brought it into [[Europe]] through [[Anatolia]] about 70 BC, with the name "a praecox", significant of its earliness [http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/1/3/6/11369/11369.txt]. While English settlers brought the apricot to the English colonies in the New World, most of modern American production of apricots comes from the seedlings carried to the west coast by [[Spain|Spanish]] missionaries. [[Turkey]] provides 85 percent of the world's dried apricot and apricot kernels today (concentrated around the city of [[Malatya]]).
Apricot [[cultivar]]s are most often [[grafting|grafted]] on rootstock. A cutting of an existing apricot plant provides the fruit characteristics such as flavour, size, etc., but the rootstock provides the growth characteristics of the plant.
==Medicinal and non-food uses==
[[Cyanogenic]] [[glycoside|glycosides]] (found in most [[stone fruit]] [[seed|seeds]], [[bark]], and [[leaves]]) are found in high concentration in apricot seeds. The drug [[laetrile]], a purported treatment for [[cancer]], is extracted from apricot seeds. As early as AD 502 apricot seeds were used to treat [[tumor]]s and in the [[17th century]] apricot oil was used in [[England]] against tumors and [[ulcer]]s. Seeds of the apricot grown in central [[Asia]] and around the [[Mediterranean]] are so sweet that they may be substituted for [[almond]]s. [[Oil]] pressed from these cultivars has been used as [[cooking oil]].
In [[Europe]], apricots were long considered an [[aphrodisiac]], and is used in this context in [[William Shakespeare]]'s ''[[A Midsummer Night's Dream]]'' and [[John Webster]]'s ''[[The Duchess of Malfi]]''. Dreaming of apricots, in English folklore, is said to be good luck, though the [[China|Chinese]] believe the fruit is a symbol of cowardice.
==External links==
*[http://www.nutritiondata.com/foods-apricot009000000000000000000.html Complete nutritional info.]
*[http://www.tcmedicine.org/en/herb/kuxingren.asp Bitter Apricot Seed] - Information on medicinal uses of apricot seeds.
*[http://www.scintro.com Scintro fruit book] - All about fruits.
*[http://www.kallipolis.com/diet/food.php?id=9021&w=3 Nutrition Information for Apricots]
<gallery>
Image:Apricot tree.jpg|An Apricot Tree
Image:Apricots2.jpg|Two apricots, with a branch of apricots in the background
Image:Apricot.jpg|Apricots after being picked
Image:Apricot blossom detail1.jpg|Apricot flowers
Image:Apricot seeds.jpg|Apricot seeds
</gallery>
{{en:wiktionary|apricot}}
{{commons|Prunus armeniaca}}
[[Category:Rosaceae]]
[[Category:Fruit]]
[[Category:Arabic words]]
[[ca:Albercoc]]
[[da:Abrikos (træ)]]
[[de:Aprikose]]
[[es:Prunus armeniaca]]
[[eo:Abrikoto]]
[[fa:زردآلو]]
[[fr:Abricot]]
[[gl:Albaricoque]]
[[lt:Abrikosas]]
[[nl:Abrikoos]]
[[ja:アンズ]]
[[ru:Абрикос]]
[[fi:Aprikoosi]]
[[sv:Aprikos]]
[[uk:Абрикос]]
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