Nectarines are very closely related to peaches. The overall appearance of the fruit, the tree characteristics, and even the flavor of the nectarine are strikingly similar to the peach tree and the actual peach fruit. Many botanists such as Luther Burbank regarded the nectarine as a fuzz-less peach, and the fruit itself grows into two forms, a freestone, meaning that the seed easily separates from the pulp,
and a cling-stone, that is used primarily as a pickled fruit, like pickled peaches. The nectarine trees are grafted onto a plum rootstock to make the trees smaller, and that means making it easier for fruit picking, more adaptable for a small city garden and much earlier - nectarines can be harvested. Grocery store fruit market managers prefer stocking nectarines to peaches, because the fruit slick coloration and lack of fuzz has more customer shelf appeal than peaches do, and the lack of fuzz means that the shopper can eat the nectarine easier out of hand, and the skin in thinner with a more perceptible aromatic perfume.