Burke: Prunus persica vs. Prunus mahaleb

	Prunus persica	Prunus mahaleb
	peach	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 persica	Prunus mahaleb
Flowering time	April-June	May - June
Habitat	Thickets, shores, and disturbed ground.
Distribution	Occurring in scattered locations on both sides of the Cascades crest in Washington; southwestern British Columbia to California, east to Idaho; also in eastern North America. [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 eastern Asia	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. dulcis, P. emarginata, P. laurocerasus, P. lusitanica, P. mahaleb, P. padus, 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: BC, 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

peach

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 persica

Prunus mahaleb

Flowering time

April-June

May - June

Habitat

Thickets, shores, and disturbed ground.

Distribution

Occurring in scattered locations on both sides of the Cascades crest in Washington; southwestern British Columbia to California, east to Idaho; also in eastern North America.

[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 eastern Asia

Introduced from Eurasia

Conservation status

Not of concern

Sibling taxa