Apricot

The apricot was known in Armenia during ancient times, and has been cultivated there for so long that it is often thought to have originated there.

Apricots have been cultivated in Persia since antiquity, and dried ones were an important commodity on Persian trade routes. 

 
In ancient Egypt, the apricot was called the "egg of the sun." 

In Latin apricot means “precious.”

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Apricot trees spread by means of silk dealers from China to Italy and arrived in England in the late 12th century. However the Europeans were suspicious of the apricot fruit as they were thought to cause fever.

Franciscan friars brought apricots into American settlements in the 1800s, and they've thrived ever since.

Elmer Stricklett, who is considered to have been the first baseball pitcher to master the spitball, retired to Mountain View, California, where he grew apricots on a ranch.  

 
Among United States tank-driving marines, apricots are taboo, by superstition. Marine Corps tankers will not eat apricots, allow apricots onto their vehicles, and often will not even say the word "apricot". 

This superstition stems from Marine Sherman tank breakdowns purportedly having happened in the presence of apricot cans. 

 
Most of modern American production of apricots comes from the seedlings carried to the west coast by Spanish missionaries. 

 
Turkey is the leading apricot producer today, followed by Uzbekistan, Italy, Algeria and Iran. World production of apricots in 2017 was 4.3 million tonnes, with 23% of the world total coming from Turkey.

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The Apricot tree is small and self-pollinating, with heart-shaped leaves on long stalks. White flowers, borne singly or doubly at a node on short stems, appear before the leaves.

Fifteen apricot kernels contain enough cyanide to kill a child.

The fruit, which resembles the peach but is somewhat smaller, is roundish, downy, yellow, and sometimes ruddy on one side, with yellow flesh.

Apricots are rich in vitamin A and dried apricots are a good dietary source of iron.

Large quantities are canned or pulped for jam making; apricots are also used to make brandy and liqueur.  

 
Sources Funk & Wagnells Encyclopedia Wikipedia