nectarine Amygdalus persica, Nucipersica group, a variety of peach with a smooth skin and a flavour so fine that the fruit is named for nectar, the legendary drink of the classical gods. The flesh of modern cultivars is generally yellow and the skin red and yellow (although until about 1940 most nectarines, at that time smaller and with a sharper flavour, had greenish-white flesh). Like other peaches, nectarines may be ‘clingstone’ or ‘freestone’. Their smooth skin means that they lack the protective ‘fuzz’ which is a feature of other peaches.
