Tree or shrub 3-12 m tall, widely oval or conical crown. Usually with many root suckers. The wood, bark, buds and leaves smells after grinding smells like almonds. Bark is shallow cracked. Leaves are simple. The lamina is obovate or elliptic, soft. The underside is hairy on young leaves, later glabrous or hairy only in the gorges of veins. The veins are not distinct on the underside. The margin is serrate. Petiole length i sup to 3 cm and may have up to 3 pinkish or black glands. Flowers are white, fragrant, arranged in dense, cylindrical racemes. Flowering after budbreaking in May and June. The fruit is spherical drupe, at first greenish, later black, shiny, glabrous, juicy, bitter taste. Stone is spherical, rough. Infructescence mainly overhanging. Shoots: Shoots are thin, with gentle or thick hair, later gradually glabrescent, shiny. Older thicker shoots dark brown, glabrous, with large light lenticels. Natural range: Europe (except southernmost part), North-west Africa, Asia (Caucasus, Siberia); in our area domestic.