Cerasus rnahaleb. 
THE MAHALEB, OR PERFUMED CHERRY-TREE. 
Synonymes. 
Prunus rnahaleb, 
Cerasus rnahaleb, 
Bois de Saiate Lucie,, Prunier odorant, 
Mahaleb-Kirschbauni, 
Albero di Santa Lucia, Ciliegio canino, 
Ciliegio malebo. 
Perfumed Cherry-tree, 
Linnaeus, Species Plantarum. 
De Candolle, Prodromus. 
Don, Miller's Dictionary. 
Loudon, Arboretum Britannicum. 
France. 
Germany. 
Italy. 
Britain and Anglo- America. 
$< ^yP M ham 
E !S whit 
Derivations Mahahb is the Arabian name of this tree. The wood of this species is perfumed, and used by the French in 
cabinet-work, toys, &c, especially in the village of Sle. Lucie, whence some of the French and Italian names. 
Engravings. Du Hamel, Traiie des Arbres et Arbustes, v., pi. 2; Loudon, Arboretum Britannicum, vi., pi. 116; and the 
figures below. 
Specific Characters. Leaves cordately ovate, denticulate, glanded, curved. Flowers in leafy sub-corym 
bose racemes. Fruit black, between ovate and round. De Candolle. Prodromus. 
Description. 
ffi^fiHE Cerasus rnahaleb is a 
id some small tree, with a 
white bark, and numerous 
branches. In its natural 
habitat,' it is seldom found above twenty feet in height; 
but in a state of cultivation, in a good soil, it sometimes 
attains double that elevation, with a trunk four feet in 
circumference. The leaves somewhat resemble those of 
ihe 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. Besides a tree with variegated leaves, Mr. Loudon mentions two 
others : 
1 . C. m. fructtj flavo. Yellow-fruited Perfumed Cherry-tree. 
2. C. m. latifolium. Broad-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 1714, 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 rnahaleb was introduced into the 
United States, is uncertain. It is found in several of the American nurseries and 
