KERASUND (anc. Choerades, Pharnacia, Cerasus)  , a town on the N. coast of Asia Minor, in the Trebizond vilayet, and the port—an exposed roadstead—of Kara-Hissar Sharki, with which it is connected by a carriage road . Pop. just under 1o,oco, Moslems being in a slight minority . The town is situated on a rocky promontory, crowned by a Byzantine fortress, and has a growing trade . It exports filberts (for which product it is the centre), walnuts, hides and timber . Cerasus was the place from which the wild cherry was introduced into Italy by Lucullus and so to Europe (hence Fr. cerise, " cherry ") .