Plantae > Tracheophyta > Magnoliopsida > Laurales > Lauraceae > Laurus > Laurus nobilis

Laurus nobilis (sweet bay)

Synonyms:

Wikipedia Abstract

Laurus nobilis is an aromatic evergreen tree or large shrub with green, glossy leaves, native to the Mediterranean region. It is one of the plants used for bay leaf seasoning in cooking. It is known as bay laurel, sweet bay, bay tree (esp. United Kingdom), true laurel, Grecian laurel, laurel tree or simply laurel. Laurus nobilis figures prominently in classical Greek, Roman, and Biblical culture.
View Wikipedia Record: Laurus nobilis

Attributes

Air Quality Improvement [1]  Medium
Allergen Potential [1]  High
Carbon Capture [1]  Low
Shade Percentage [1]  91 %
Temperature Reduction [1]  Low
Wind Reduction [1]  High
Edible [2]  May be edible. See the Plants For A Future link below for details.
Flower Type [2]  Dioecious
Leaf Type [2]  Evergreen
Lifespan [3]  Perennial
Pollinators [2]  Bees
Scent [2]  When bruised, the leaves release a sweet aromatic scent.
Structure [2]  Tree
Usage [2]  An essential oil from the fruit is used in soap making; The plant is highly resistant to pests and diseases, it is said to protect neighbouring plants from insect and health problems; The leaves are highly aromatic and can be used as an insect repellent, the dried leaves protect stored grain, beans etc from weevils; It is also used as a strewing herb because of its aromatic smell and antiseptic properties; Very tolerant of clipping; Wood - sweetly-scented, does not wear quickly. Used for marqueterie work, walking sticks and friction sticks for making fires;
Height [2]  39 feet (12 m)
Width [2]  33 feet (10 m)
Hardiness Zone Minimum [1]  USDA Zone: 9 Low Temperature: 20 F° (-6.7 C°) → 30 F° (-1.1 C°)
Hardiness Zone Maximum [1]  USDA Zone: 10 Low Temperature: 30 F° (-1.1 C°) → 40 F° (4.4 C°)
Water Use [1]  Moderate to Low
View Plants For A Future Record : Laurus nobilis

Protected Areas

Predators

Consumers

Parasitized by 
Ganoderma applanatum (Artist’s Bracket)[5]
Ganoderma australe (Southern Bracket)[5]
Golovinomyces orontii[5]
Pseudoidium lauracearum[5]

External References

USDA Plant Profile

NatureServe Explorer

Citations

Attributes / relations provided by
♦ 1i-Tree Species v. 4.0, developed by the USDA Forest Service's Northern Research Station and SUNY-ESF using the Horticopia, Inc. plant database.
♦ 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)
♦ 4Ben-Dov, Y., Miller, D.R. & Gibson, G.A.P. ScaleNet 4 November 2009
♦ 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
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