Cerasus malmlcb. 



THE MAIIALEB, OR PERFUMED CHERRY-TREE. 



Synonymes. 



r run us mahahb, 



Cerasus itiuhaleb, 



Bnis (l(> Saintc Lucie. Prunier odorant, 



IMahaleb-Kirschbauin, 



Albero di Santa Lucia, Ciliegio canino, 



Cilief!:io malebo, 

 Perfumed Cherry-tree, 



LiNN^cs, S|x;cics Plantarum. 

 De Candolle, Prodroinus. 

 Don, Miller's Diclionary. 

 Loudon, Arboretum Britannicum. 



FUANCE. 



Germany. 



Italy. 



Britain and Anglo-America. 



X^ 



Dfnralions. Mahaleb is the Arabian name of this tree. The wood of this species is perfiimoil, and used by the French in 

 cabinet-work, toys, &c., especially in llie village of Sle. Lucie, whence some of the French and Italian names. 



Engrarings. Du Hamel, Trail6 des Arbres et Arbuslea, v., pi. 2; Loudon, Arboretum Britannicum, vi., pi, IIC; and the 

 fieures l)clow. 



Spfcific Characters. Leaves cordately ovate, denticulate, glanded, curved. Flowers in leafy sub-corym 

 bose racemes. Fruit black, between ovate and round. De Candolle. Frodromus. 



Description. 



we^^'$*^HE Cerasus malialcb is a 

 H np* 1^ handsome small tree, with a 

 X ('$ white bark, and numerous 

 _ Sli branches. In its natural 



habitat, it is seldom found above twenty feet in height; 

 but in a state of cultivation, hi a good soil, it sometimes 

 attains double that elevation, with a trunk four feet in 

 circumference. The leaves somewhat resemble those of 

 the common apricot, but are of a paler green. The 

 flowers put forth in April and May, and are succeeded 

 by black fruit much smaller than that of the Cerasus 

 sylvestris, very bitter to the taste, though greedily eaten by several species of birds 



Varieties - - - 

 others : 



1 . C. M. FRUCTU FLAVO. Ycllow-fndted Perfumed Cherry-tree. 



2. C. M. LATiFOLiuM. Brocid-leaved Perfumed Cherry-tree. 



Geography and History. The perfumed cherry is found wild in the middle 

 and south of France, the south of Germany, Austria, Piedmont, and in Crim 

 Tartary ; and, according to Pallas, it grows in abundance on Mount Caucasus, 

 where it differs from the European variety, in bringing forth both flowers and 

 leaves at the same time, and the latter in being more cordate and acuminate. The 

 tree is very common in the mountainous districts of France, and is very gene- 

 rally cultivated in England for the purposes of ornament. It was introduced 

 mto the last-named country in 1711, but was known long before, as Gerard 

 remarks that, "the cunning French perfumers make bracelets, chains, and such 

 like trifling toys, of the fruit, which they send to England, smeared over with 

 some old sweet compound or other, and here sell unto our curious old ladies and 

 gentlewomen, for rare and strange pomambers, for great sums of money." 



At what period, and by whom, the Cerasus mahaleb Avas introduced into the 

 United States, is uncertain. It is found in several of the American nurseries and 



Besides a tree with variegated leaves, Mr. Loudon mentions two 



