Apricorn

Artwork of all the Apricorns

Apricorns (Japanese: ぼんぐりのみ Bonguri Fruit) are special fruit that grow on trees in the Johto region. While they may be picked like Berries (and in fact may merely be specialized Berries), their use is not in being healing or stat-boosting held items, but instead as items to be used to create new Poké Balls.

Because Apricorn trees are sensitive, picking one before it is ripe or picking too many at a time can damage the entire tree, making Apricorns quite rare and valuable.

Kurt, a Poké Ball smith who lives in Azalea Town, can make each Apricorn into a different and special kind of Poké Ball which is unavailable elsewhere in the Pokémon world. While these Apricorn Balls are rarer than other kinds of Poké Ball, in older times, most all Poké Balls were made from Apricorns rather than manufactured as they are in current times.

File:Apricorn.JPG

A White Apricorn in the anime

Apricorns return in Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver, where they are kept in a special key item, the Apricorn Case, much as Berries were kept in Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen. Kurt again crafts them into the seven special Poké Balls which have not made an appearance since Generation II.

In Generation II, only one tree of each Apricorn was found across Johto, allowing players to get only seven Apricorns per day. This, along with the fact that he would make only one daily, vastly limited the usage of Kurt's Poké Balls. Kurt's ability to make multiple Balls of the same kind in a day in Crystal alleviated this somewhat, while the inclusion of more Apricorn trees in Johto and Kanto in the place of the trees containing the Generation II berries in Generation IV finally solved this issue.

List of Apricorns

Apricorn		Poké Ball		Locations	Pokéthlon
	Wht Apricorn (しろぼんぐり White Bonguri)		Fast Ball (スピードボール Speed Ball)	Azalea Town* Route 38	Unknown
	Red Apricorn (あかぼんぐり Red Bonguri)		Level Ball (レベルボール Level Ball)	Route 37* Route 44	Unknown
	Blu Apricorn (あおぼんぐり Blue Bonguri)		Lure Ball (ルアーボール Lure Ball)	Route 36 Route 37*	Unknown
	Blk Apricorn (くろぼんぐり Black Bonguri)		Heavy Ball (ヘビーボール Heavy Ball)	Route 31 Route 33 Route 37* Route 43	Unknown
	Pnk Apricorn (ももぼんぐり Peach Bonguri)		Love Ball (ラブラブボール Love Love Ball)	Route 30 Route 33 Route 42*	Unknown
	Grn Apricorn (みどぼんぐり Green Bonguri)		Friend Ball (フレンドボール Friend Ball)	Route 29 Route 30 Route 35 Route 39 Route 42* Route 45 Route 46	Unknown
	Ylw Apricorn (きぼんぐり Yellow Bonguri)		Moon Ball (ムーンボール Moon Ball)	Violet City Route 42* Route 46	Unknown
*Indicates area where Apricorn is found in Generation II.

Apricorn shakes

Apricorn shakes, or Aprishakes for short, are made from Apricorns in Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver as counterparts to the Pokéblocks and Poffin of Hoenn and Sinnoh, and are used to raise a Pokémon's Pokéthlon stats. These can be made with the Apricorn Shaker in Goldenrod City.

Trivia

• A woman in the Azalea Town Pokémon Center mentions that before Poké Balls became standardized, everyone used hollowed-out Apricorns to capture Pokémon. This is likely how Kurt mastered the trade.
• Apricorn Poké Balls have the same emerging animation as regular Poké Balls, and when a Pokémon contained in one is seen from the perspective of Pokémon Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum, it will be in a regular Poké Ball.
• Because of their exclusive nature, Apricorn Poké Balls, unlike the other varieties, cannot be held by a Pokémon in Generation IV (this is untrue in Generation II, however).

This item article is part of Project ItemDex, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on all items.