Plantae > Tracheophyta > Magnoliopsida > Rosales > Rosaceae > Prunus > Prunus laurocerasus

Prunus laurocerasus (Cherry laurel)

Synonyms:

Wikipedia Abstract

Prunus laurocerasus, also known as cherry laurel, common laurel and sometimes English laurel in North America, is an evergreen species of cherry (Prunus), native to regions bordering the Black Sea in southwestern Asia and southeastern Europe, from Albania and Bulgaria east through Turkey to the Caucasus Mountains and northern Iran.
View Wikipedia Record: Prunus laurocerasus

Infraspecies

Prunus laurocerasus var. caucasica
Prunus laurocerasus var. laurocerasus
Prunus laurocerasus var. schipkaensis

Attributes

Allergen Potential [1]  Medium
Edible [2]  May be edible. See the Plants For A Future link below for details.
Flower Type [2]  Hermaphrodite
Hazards [2]  All parts of the plant contain hydrogen cyanide, a poison that gives almonds their characteristic flavour. This toxin is found mainly in the leaves and seed and is readily detected by its bitter taste. It is usually present in too small a quantity to do any harm but any very bitter seed or fruit should not be eaten. In small quantities, hydrogen cyanide has been shown to stimulate respiration and improve digestion, it is also claimed to be of benefit in the treatment of cancer. In excess, however, it can cause respiratory failure and even death.
Leaf Type [2]  Evergreen
Lifespan [3]  Perennial
Pollinators [2]  Bees, Lepidoptera
Scent [2]  The flowers are powerfully fragrant; This is a matter of opinion, some people find the smell sweet and delightful;
Structure [2]  Shrub
Usage [2]  Very tolerant of trimming, this plant makes an excellent hedge especially in shady areas; Some forms of this plant, notably 'Cherry Brandy', 'Otto Luyken', 'Zabelina' and 'Schipkaensis' are low-growing and make very good ground cover plants for sun or shade; Water distilled from the leaves is used in perfumery; The bruised leaves, when rubbed within any container, will remove strong odours such as garlic or cloves so long as any grease has first been fully cleaned off; A green dye can be obtained from the leaves; A dark grey to green dye can be obtained from the fruit; Wood - pinkish grey. Used in turnery and lathe work;
Height [2]  20 feet (6 m)
Width [2]  33 feet (10 m)
Light Preference [4]  Mostly Shady
Soil Acidity [4]  Moderate Acid
Soil Fertility [4]  Intermediate
Soil Moisture [4]  Moist
View Plants For A Future Record : Prunus laurocerasus

Protected Areas

Predators

Consumers

Parasitized by 
Podosphaera tridactyla[5]
Stigmina carpophila[5]

External References

USDA Plant Profile

NatureServe Explorer

Citations

Attributes / relations provided by
♦ 1Derived from Allergy-Free Gardening OPALS™, Thomas Leo Ogren (2000)
♦ 2Plants For A Future licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
♦ 3PLANTATT - Attributes of British and Irish Plants: Status, Size, Life History, Geography and Habitats, M. O. Hill, C. D. Preston & D. B. Roy, Biological Records Centre, NERC Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (2004)
♦ 4ECOFACT 2a Technical Annex - Ellenberg’s indicator values for British Plants, M O Hill, J O Mountford, D B Roy & R G H Bunce (1999)
♦ 5Jorrit H. Poelen, James D. Simons and Chris J. Mungall. (2014). Global Biotic Interactions: An open infrastructure to share and analyze species-interaction datasets. Ecological Informatics.
♦ 6HOSTS - a Database of the World's Lepidopteran Hostplants Gaden S. Robinson, Phillip R. Ackery, Ian J. Kitching, George W. Beccaloni AND Luis M. Hernández
♦ 7Biological Records Centre Database of Insects and their Food Plants
♦ 8Ben-Dov, Y., Miller, D.R. & Gibson, G.A.P. ScaleNet 4 November 2009
♦ 9New Zealand Institute for Plant & Food Research Plant-SyNZ™ database
Abstract provided by DBpedia licensed under a Creative Commons License
Species taxanomy provided by GBIF Secretariat (2022). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via GBIF.org on 2023-06-13; License: CC BY 4.0