Laurus nobilis L., Lauraceae

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Present on Pacific Islands?  yes

Primarily a threat at high elevations?  no

Risk assessment results:  Evaluate, score: 6 (Go to the risk assessment)

Common name(s): [more details]

Chinese: yue gui, yue gui ye

English: bay, bay laurel, bay-leaf laurel, Grecian laurel, laurel, sweet bay, wreath laurel

French: laurier, laurier sauce

Spanish: laural

Habit:  shrub/tree

Description:  "Evergreen shrublike or small trees, up to 12 m tall, dioecious. Bark blackish brown. Branchlets terete, striate, puberulent on young part or wholly subglabrous. Leaves alternate; petiole purple-red when fresh, 0.7-1 cm, sparsely puberulent or subglabrous, sulcate adaxially; leaf blade greenish abaxially, dark green adaxially, oblong or oblong-lanceolate, 5.5-12 x 1.8-3.2 cm, leathery, glabrous on both surfaces, lateral veins 10-12 pairs, curved and interconnected at ends near leaf margin, midrib elevated on both surfaces, reticulate veinlets ± conspicuous on both surfaces, foveolate, base cuneate, margin slightly undulate, apex acute or acuminate. Umbels 1-3 in cluster on short raceme, globose; involucral bracts suborbicular, glabrous outside, sericeous inside; peduncle up to 7 mm, sparsely puberulent or subglabrous. Male flowers 5 in each umbel, green, small; pedicels ca. 2 mm, pilose; perianth tube short, densely pilose outside; perianth lobes 4, broadly obovate or suborbicular, appressed villous on both surfaces; fertile stamens usually 12, in 3 whorls; filaments of 1st whorl eglandular but those of 2nd and 3rd whorls each with 2 reniform glands at middle part; anthers ellipsoid, 2-celled, cells introrse; ovary infertile. Female flowers: staminodes 4; ovary 1-celled; style short; stigma slightly dilated, obtusely trigonous. Fruit dark purple when mature, ovoid"  (Flora of China online).

Habitat/ecology:  In New Zealand, "bay or bay laurel persists for a long time in abandoned gardens and is often semi-wild there" (Webb et al., 1988; 802).

Propagation:  "It spreads mainly by seed but suckering does occur" (Webb et al., 1988; 802).

Native range:  Northern Africa, southern and southeastern Europe, Middle East; cultivated and naturalized elsewhere (GRIN).

Presence:

Pacific
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Chile (offshore islands) Juan Fernández Islands	Isla Más a Tierra (Robinson Crusoe Island)	introduced cultivated	Atkinson, Rachel/Sawyer, John (2011)
Chile (offshore islands) Juan Fernández Islands	Isla Más a Tierra (Robinson Crusoe Island)	introduced	Danton, Philippe/Perrier, Christophe/Martinez Reyes, Guido (2006)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Hawai‘i (Big) Island		Bishop Museum (U.S.A. Hawaii. Honolulu.) (1958) (voucher ID: BISH 54367) Taxon name on voucher: Laurus nobilis L.
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Kaua‘i Island		Bishop Museum (U.S.A. Hawaii. Honolulu.) (1989) (voucher ID: BISH 548803) Taxon name on voucher: Laurus nobilis L.
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	O‘ahu Island		Bishop Museum (U.S.A. Hawaii. Honolulu.) (1990) (voucher ID: BISH 557715) Taxon name on voucher: Laurus nobilis L.
New Caledonia New Caledonia Archipelago	Île Grande Terre	introduced cultivated	MacKee, H. S. (1994) (p. 71) Planté comme condiment dans les jardins.

Pacific Rim
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
China China	China (People's Republic of)	introduced cultivated	Zhengyi, Wu/Raven, Peter H./Deyuan, Hong (2011)
New Zealand New Zealand	New Zealand (country)	introduced invasive cultivated	Webb, C. J./Sykes, W. R./Garnock-Jones, P. J. (1988) (p. 802) Most frequent in and around modified forest remnants.
United States (west coast) United States (west coast states)	USA (California)	introduced	U.S. Dept. Agr., Nat. Res. Cons. Serv. (2011)

Additional information:
Additional online information about Laurus nobilis is available from the Hawaiian Ecosystems at Risk project (HEAR).

Information about Laurus nobilis as a weed (worldwide references) may be available from the Global Compendium of Weeds (GCW).

Taxonomic information about Laurus nobilis may be available from the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN).

References:

Atkinson, Rachel/Sawyer, John. 2011. Naturalized species in the Juan Fernández Archipelago, Chile. Unpublished spreadsheet.

Bishop Museum (U.S.A. Hawaii. Honolulu.). 1958. Voucher specimen #BISH54367(Bryan, L.W. s.n.).

Bishop Museum (U.S.A. Hawaii. Honolulu.). 1989. Voucher specimen #BISH548803(Hume, L. 385).

Bishop Museum (U.S.A. Hawaii. Honolulu.). 1990. Voucher specimen #BISH557715(Alexander 572).

Danton, Philippe/Perrier, Christophe/Martinez Reyes, Guido. 2006. Nouveau catalogue de la flore vaculaire de l'archipel Juan Fernández (Chile) [Nuevo catálogo de la flora vacular del Archipélago Juan Fernández (Chile)]. Acta Bot. Gallica 153(4):399-587.

MacKee, H. S. 1994. Catalogue des plantes introduites et cultivées en Nouvelle-Calédonie. Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, 164 p.

Porcher, Michel H. 2011. Searchable World Wide Web Multilingual Multiscript Plant Name Database. The University of Melbourne, Australia. Online resource.

U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. 2011. National Genetic Resources Program. Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Online searchable database.

U.S. Dept. Agr., Nat. Res. Cons. Serv. 2011. The PLANTS Database. National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, LA 70874-4490 USA.

Webb, C. J./Sykes, W. R./Garnock-Jones, P. J. 1988. Flora of New Zealand, Volume IV: Naturalised pteridophytes, gymnosperms, dicotyledons. Botany Division, DSIR, Christchurch. 1365 pp.

Zhengyi, Wu/Raven, Peter H./Deyuan, Hong. 2011. Flora of China (online resource).