Burke: Prunus dulcis vs. Prunus mahaleb

	Prunus dulcis	Prunus mahaleb
	almond	mahaleb cherry, perfumed cherry
Habit		Spreading tree to 10 m. tall, the twigs pubescent, the bark grayish-red.
Leaves		Leaves alternate, deciduous, the petioles puberulent, 8-15 mm. long, the blades oval to broadly elliptic-ovate, 2-5 cm. long, abruptly acute, with fine, rounded, gland-tipped teeth, glabrous and pale green.
Flowers		Flowers 4-12 in short, leafy-bracteate racemes, the pedicels up to 2 cm. long; calyx greenish-white, the 5 lobes entire, oblong-lanceolate, 3 mm. long, equal to the tube; petals 5, white, oblanceolate, 7-9 mm. long; stamens about 20; pistil 1, simple.
Fruits		Drupe ovate, 6-8 mm. long, nearly black.

	Prunus dulcis	Prunus mahaleb
Flowering time	March-May	May - June
Habitat	Disturbed areas, mostly along riparian zones and rocky slopes.
Distribution	Occurring in scattered locations east of the Cascades crest and in the Columbia River Gorge in Washington; Washington, Idaho, and California. [WildflowerSearch map] [BONAP county map]	Ocurring on both sides of the Cascades crest in Washington; British Columbia to California, east to Montana, Idaho, Utah, and also in the eastern United States. [WildflowerSearch map] [BONAP county map]
Origin	Introduced from western Asia and northern Africa	Introduced from Eurasia
Conservation status	Not of concern	Not of concern
Sibling taxa	P. americana, P. armeniaca, P. avium, P. cerasifera, P. cerasus, P. domestica, P. emarginata, P. laurocerasus, P. lusitanica, P. mahaleb, P. padus, P. persica, P. ×pugetensis, P. spinosa, P. tomentosa, P. virginiana, P. yedoensis	P. americana, P. armeniaca, P. avium, P. cerasifera, P. cerasus, P. domestica, P. dulcis, P. emarginata, P. laurocerasus, P. lusitanica, P. padus, P. persica, P. ×pugetensis, P. spinosa, P. tomentosa, P. virginiana, P. yedoensis
Web links	Local floras: CA, OR, WA Local Web sites: CalFlora, CalPhotos, Flora NW, PNW Herbaria WildflowerSearch iNaturalist (observations) USDA Plants Database LBJ Wildflower Center SEINet Plants of the World Online Encyclopedia of Life Wikipedia Google Image Search	Local floras: BC, OR, WA Local Web sites: Flora NW, PNW Herbaria WildflowerSearch iNaturalist (observations) USDA Plants Database LBJ Wildflower Center SEINet Plants of the World Online Encyclopedia of Life Wikipedia Google Image Search

Prunus mahaleb

almond

mahaleb cherry, perfumed cherry

Habit

Spreading tree to 10 m. tall, the twigs pubescent, the bark grayish-red.

Leaves

Leaves alternate, deciduous, the petioles puberulent, 8-15 mm. long, the blades oval to broadly elliptic-ovate, 2-5 cm. long, abruptly acute, with fine, rounded, gland-tipped teeth, glabrous and pale green.

Flowers

Flowers 4-12 in short, leafy-bracteate racemes, the pedicels up to 2 cm. long;

calyx greenish-white, the 5 lobes entire, oblong-lanceolate, 3 mm. long, equal to the tube;

petals 5, white, oblanceolate, 7-9 mm. long;

stamens about 20;

pistil 1, simple.

Fruits

Drupe ovate, 6-8 mm. long, nearly black.

Prunus dulcis

Prunus mahaleb

Flowering time

March-May

May - June

Habitat

Disturbed areas, mostly along riparian zones and rocky slopes.

Distribution

Occurring in scattered locations east of the Cascades crest and in the Columbia River Gorge in Washington; Washington, Idaho, and California.

[WildflowerSearch map]

[BONAP county map]

Ocurring on both sides of the Cascades crest in Washington; British Columbia to California, east to Montana, Idaho, Utah, and also in the eastern United States.

[WildflowerSearch map]

[BONAP county map]

Origin

Introduced from western Asia and northern Africa

Introduced from Eurasia

Conservation status

Not of concern

Sibling taxa