The name Duke comes from the variety May Duke which is a corruption of Médoc, a district in the department of Geronde, France, from whence this variety came. The cherries of this group are known as Dukes only in England; in France the name Royale is similarly used. These hybrid cherries have been placed in a distinct botanical group by several botanists. They constitute the _Cerasus regalis_ Poiteau and Turpin (_Traite des Arb. Fruit_. 123); the _Cerasus bigarella regalis_ Roemer (_Syn. Monogr_. =3=:69); and the _Prunus avium regalis_ Bailey (Cyc. _Am. Hort_. 1453. 1901). PRUNUS MAHALEB Linnaeus. 1. Linnaeus _Sp. Pl._ 474. 1753. 2. Bailey _Cyc. Am. Hort._ =3=:1451. 1901. 3. Schneider _Handb. Laubh._ =1=:617. 1906. _Cerasus mahaleb._ 4. Miller _Gard. Dict._ ed. 8: No. 4. 1759. _Padus mahaleb._ 5. Borkhausen _Handb. Forstb._ =2=:1434. 1803. Tree small, slender, vigorous, upright-spreading, open-topped; branches roughened, ash-gray over reddish-brown; branchlets numerous, slender and firm-wooded, with short internodes, dull gray, glabrous, with very numerous large, raised lenticels. Leaves numerous, an inch in length, one and one-fourth inches wide, ovate to obovate, thick, leathery; upper surface dark green, glossy, smooth; lower surface light green, slightly pubescent along the midrib; apex and base abrupt; margin finely crenate, with reddish-brown glands; petiole one-half inch long, slender, greenish, with none or with from one to three small, globose, greenish glands variable in position. Buds small, short, obtuse, appressed or free, arranged singly as lateral buds and in clusters on small, slender spurs; flowers appearing late, after the leaves, small, averaging one-half inch across, white, fragrant; borne in clusters of six to eight scattered on a main stem an inch in length, with the terminal pedicels one-quarter inch long and basal pedicels one-half inch long; pedicels slender, glabrous, greenish; calyx-tube green, campanulate, glabrous; calyx-lobes narrow, entire, glabrous, reflexed; petals white, small, separated, ovate, tapering to short, narrow claws; filaments one-fourth inch long; pistil glabrous, about equal to the stamens in length.