Mahaleb 



501 



The bark is about 8 mm. thick, usually smooth and dark gray; the twigs are 

 slender, hairy, becoming smooth and gray- 

 brown. The leaves are thick-membranous, 

 oval to obovate, 4 to 9 cm. long, blunt or more 

 or less pointed at the apex, narrowed and 

 2 -glandular at the base, margined by gland- 

 tipped teeth, dark green with impressed mid- 

 rib above, paler and woolly beneath ; leaf-stalk 

 slender, channelled and hairy, about i cm. 

 long. The flowers, appearing from May to 

 July, are i to 1.5 cm. across, in several 2- to 

 4-flowered umbels, on slender hairy pedicels 

 2 to 5 cm. long; the calyx-tube is obconic, 

 hairy, as are the blunt lobes; petals obovate, 

 rounded at the apex; stamens and pistil 

 smooth. The fruit, ripening in August, is 

 globose, 8 to 12 mm. in diameter, bright red, 

 flesh thin and very bitter, the stone ovoid. 



The wood is brittle, soft, close-grained, 

 pinkish-brown; its specific gravity is about 0.45 

 of furniture. i 



The young plants are used by nurserymen as stock upon which to graft culti- 

 vated varieties of cherries. It is said to have been planted as a shade-tree in some 

 of the towns of the Northwest. 



Fig. 461. Woolly -leaf Cherr}-. 



It is used in the manufacture 



18. MAHALEB Prunus Mahaleb Linnaeus 



Fig. 462. Mahaleb. 



A small European tree, also called 

 the Perfume or Scented cherr}', often a 

 shrub, flowering when very young and 

 small; it is sparingly naturahzed in our 

 area in waste places, fence rows and way- 

 sides, from Ontario to Pennsylvania; 

 also recently reported from Kansas. Its 

 maximum height is 7.5 meters, with a 

 trunk diameter of 4 dm. 



The bark is thin, smooth and hght 

 gray; the twigs are slender, shining and 

 grayish red ; the leaves are thin and firm, 

 ovate, 4 to 6 cm. long, abruptly sharp- 

 pointed, rounded or somewhat cordate 

 at the base, margined with small, glan- 

 dular teeth, light green and smooth on 



