Cherry laurel
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| Prunus laurocerasus L. |
The Cherry Laurel (Prunus laurocerasus) is a species in the genus Prunus. It may also be called laurel cherry, common laurel, and English laurel. It is native to regions bordering the Black Sea in southwestern Asia and southeastern Europe. [1]
The Cherry laurel is an evergreen shrub or small tree, growing to 5-10 m tall, rarely to 18 m tall, with a trunk up to 50 cm diameter. The leaves are dark green, leathery, shiny, 10-25 cm long and 4-8 cm broad, with a finely serrated margin. The small white flowers bud in early spring and appear in erect 10-20 cm racemes in summer. The fruits are small cherries 1-2 cm diameter, turning black as they ripen. Unlike the rest of the plant, which is poisonous, the berries are edible, although they stain one's mouth a purple-black color and taste rather insipid compared to the fruits of apricots, true cherries, plums, and peaches, to which Cherry laurel is very closely related. The seeds contained within the berries are poisonous like the rest of the plant, containing cyanogenic glycoside and amygdalin [2]. This chemical composition is what gives the smell of almonds when the leaves are crushed.
Prunus laurocerasus is often called laurel because of the similarity of foliage and appearance to the true laurel, Laurus nobilis. However, the two plants are not related.
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[edit] Cultivation
Cherry laurel has been widely planted as an ornamental plant all over the world, and has become naturalized widely in temperate latitudes. It is often used for screening, and also as a mass landscape and ground cover plant. Most forms are tough shrubs that can cope with difficult growing conditions (including shaded and dry conditions), and which respond well to pruning. Many cultivars have been selected. The foliage is also used for cut greenery in floristry.
[edit] Invasive potential
Although Cherry laurel is easy to care for in most gardens, it is important to recognize the invasive potential of this plant. In some regions (for instance, the Pacific Northwest of the United States), this species is an invasive pest. The same reasons that make Cherry laurel a good choice for a garden make it a threat to many ecosystems. Its rapid growth, coupled with its evergreen habit and its tolerance of drought and shade, often allow Cherry laurel to out-compete and kill off whole classes of native plant species. This reduces the overall diversity of ecosystems and negatively impacts almost all other plants and animals that live there. It is also difficult to control once it has naturalized, because some species of birds enjoy eating the fruits and thus spread the seeds throughout the forest in their droppings.
[edit] Medical uses
Laurel water, a distillation made from the plant, has a pharmacological usage.
[edit] References
- ^ A dictionary of popular names of the plants which furnish the natural and acquired wants of man,... - Page 108 by John Smith - 1882
- ^ Poisonous Plants: Prunus Laurocerasus
