Family ²

Lauraceae

Description ³

Trees or shrubs , to 45 m; twigs terete, glabrous or sparsely appressed-pubescent, rarely minutely tomentose. Leaf blade deep yellow-green, shiny, narrowly oblong or narrowly elliptic, 3-10 × 1.5-3 cm, base acute or obtuse, apex acute; surfaces abaxially glabrous, sparsely appressed-pubescent or minutely tomentose, adaxially glabrous; domatia absent. Inflorescences pubescent. Flowers 5-10; tepals 6-8 mm. Drupe usually solitary, 2 cm or more diam. 2 n =24.

They do not reproduce until they are 30-40 years old.

Community ²

Chaparral, Foothill Woodland, Yellow Pine Forest, Mixed Evergreen Forest, Redwood Forest, wetland-riparian

Flowering ²

Mar- May

Ethnobotany ²

The Cahuilla, Chumash, Pomo, Miwok, Yuki, and Salinan are among the California tribes that value California laurel trees for its many uses including fumigant, food (seeds, leaves, fruits), medicine (leaves) USDA

Garden Location ²

B

Associated species ²

bees visit, but may or may not be the pollinator
Seeds/fruits are eaten by jays, woodrats and squirrels.

Sources and Credits

1. (c) Gravitywave, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://www.flickr.com/photos/gravitywave/5310172608/
2. (c) gillian360, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA)
3. (c) Missouri Botanical Garden, 4344 Shaw Boulevard, St. Louis, MO, 63110 USA, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/5004684

More Info

• iNat taxon page
• Biodiversity Heritage Library
• BOLD Systems BIN search
• Calflora
• CalPhotos
• eFloras.org
• Flora of North America (beta)
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF)
• HOSTS - a Database of the World's Lepidopteran Hostplants
• IPNI (with links to POWO, WFO, and BHL)
• Jepson eFlora
• NatureServe Explorer 2.0
• OregonFlora.org
• SEINet Symbiota portals
• Tropicos
• USDA PLANTS database
• World Flora Online

iNat Map