Fruit identification please.

[bramble]

While on holiday in Spain I picked some nectarine like fruit from a tree.
When I cut it open there were four stones in the centre.
They were very shiney as if they had been polished.
Any help please.
They were growing on a medium sized tree, not a bush.

[nickdub]

Loquat (nespera in Portuguese) - when I was on holiday in Portugal one year there was a large tree by the villa we rented, so I brought back some seeds, and they germinated no problem - got one in a large pot in the poly-tunnel.

[Guest]

Doh Nick beat me.

[veggiechicken]

Loquat?? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loquat

[veggiechicken]

You both beat me but that's because i was looking for a link 'cos I'm so helpful.

[nickdub]

You both beat me but that's because i was looking for a link 'cos I'm so helpful.

... and modest :-)

[Babru]

Very tasty fruit, I've had it on the farmer's market in Tenerife many times. Not hardy here though?

[veggiechicken]

Its my modesty that makes me so charming

[bramble]

Thank you all.
Going to try growing it.

[ameno]

Very tasty fruit, I've had it on the farmer's market in Tenerife many times. Not hardy here though?

The tree itself is perfectly hardy. My next-door neighbour has one in his garden, with very handsome long, deeply-veined evergreen leaves.
Getting it to fruit here, however, is another matter.
They flower in the autumn, and require a long, hot summer in order to even produce flowers in the first place. The fruit are then meant to grow over winter and be ready to harvest in early spring, but the developing fruit are not frost hardy and will be destroyed be temperatures below -1. And even if you somehow do manage to protect them from frost, if the winter isn't warm enough they won't grow properly or ripen, anyway.

This isn't one of those fruits which is difficult to grow in the UK. I would say it is outright impossible (without a large heated greenhouse, at any rate).
They make handsome trees if you just want to grow one for the foliage, though. And apparently the leaves can be used to make a pleasant (and ostensibly healthy) tea.

[Babru]

Interesting ameno. I've now looked up the RHS and they say it's hardy through most of the UK, -10 to -5, scented flower that looks a bit like a hawthorn, but the fruit won't ripen. I love growing things that remind me of holidays, this might be worth a go! Might even have flowered last summer