Plants in Israel: Sour Cherry

Prunus cerasus, Sour Cherry,
Hebrew: דובדבן, Arabic: حبّ الملوك, Habb al-muluk

Scientific name:   Prunus cerasus L.
Common name:   Sour Cherry
Hebrew name:   דובדבן
Arabic name:   حبّ الملوك, Habb al-muluk
Family:   Rosaceae, ורדיים


Life form:   Decidious tree
Leaves:   Entire, lanceolate, dentate or serrate
Flowers:   White to pink; five petals; five sepals; in corymbs, long-stalked, not on leafed shoots; hermaphrodite
Fruits / pods:   a drupe
Flowering Period:   March, April
Habitat:   Mediterranean maquis and forest
Distribution:   Mediterranean Woodlands and Shrublands, Montane vegetation of Mt. Hermon
Chorotype:   Mediterranean
Summer shedding:   Perennating


Derivation of the botanical name:

Prunus, Latin prūnus, Greek προῦνον prounon; plum tree.

cerasus, κερασοϛ a cherry.
The Hebrew Name: דובדבן, duvdevan cherry; the word occurs in the Mishnah, but its form and meaning are uncertain.

  • The standard author abbreviation L. is used to indicate Carl Linnaeus (1707 – 1778), a Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist, the father of modern taxonomy.