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California Bay

Umbellularia californica

Common names 4

California bay
bay
bay laurel
baytree
black myrtle
California laurel
cinnamon bush
Coos Bay laurel
laurel
mountain laurel
myrtle
myrtletree
myrtlewood
Oregon myrtle
Pacific myrtle
pepperwood
spice-tree
white myrtle
yellow myrtle

Description 5

General: Laurel family (Lauraceae). California laurel is a perennial, evergreen tree or shrub that is native to California and southern Oregon. The trees have many slender erect branches and a dense crown that can be rounded to pyramidal in shape. The height is variable depending on conditions and the plants can grow from 3 to 45 meters tall. The smallest forms are found under dry conditions and they reach their greatest size on deep alluvial soils near rivers.

The greenish to reddish brown bark, which is thin and smooth on young trees, begins to peel and shed as the trees mature. The alternately arranged leaves are oblong to lance-shaped (2.5 to 11 cm long and 1.5 to 3 cm wide). Leaves are glossy dark yellow-green, thick, and leathery. When crushed, the leaves give off a strong peppery menthol-like odor, which is the reason the early European settlers gave the tree the name pepperwood. The small yellow-green flowers are borne in clusters of 6 to 10 flowers. The round olive-like fruits (1 to 2.5cm in diameter) turn from green to deep brown-purple. Inside the fruit is a single large seed, which is a white kernel surrounded by a light brown shell.

Distribution: California laurel is distributed from San Diego County to Northwestern California and into southwestern Oregon. In California, it occurs in both the Coast Ranges and Sierra Nevada. For current distribution, please consult the Plant Profile page for this species on the PLANTS Web site.

Habitat: California laurel trees are abundant near water sources in alluvial flood plains as well as shady hillsides and canyons below 1600 meters. The trees occur in oak woodlands, mixed evergreen forest, redwood forest, and chaparral. In chaparral communities they grow in canyons, valleys, and sometimes in high rocky areas were they are able tap into moisture.

Distribution 6

The range of California-laurel spans more than 11° of  latitude, from below the 44th parallel in the Umpqua River Valley  of Douglas County, OR, south beyond the 33d parallel in San Diego  County, CA. In the Coast Ranges, the southern limit is on eastern  slopes of the Laguna Mountains, a short distance from the Mexican  border (19). In the Sierra Nevada, it extends as far south as the  west slope of Breckenridge Mountain in Kern County (58). Eastward  from the coast, California-laurel extends to the foothills of the  Cascade Range in Oregon and California, into the western Sierra  Nevada for its entire length, and to the inland side of the Coast  Ranges south of San Luis Obispo, CA. Its farthest extent inland,  about 257 km (160 mi), is in the southern Sierra Nevada.

Flowering and fruiting 7

California-laurel flowers  regularly and often profusely. The pale yellow, perfect flowers,  15 mm (0.6 in) in diameter, grow on short-stemmed umbels that  originate from leaf axils or near the terminal bud. Flower buds  develop early; those for the following year become prominent as  current-year fruits are maturing. Flowering within the long  north-south range of California-laurel has occurred in all months  from November to May, beginning before new leaves appear  (24,25,29,61). The flowering period may stretch into late spring  and summer by the occasional appearance of flowers originating in  axils of developing leaves (48). California-laurel flowers at an  early age; flowers have been observed on short whiplike shrubs  and on 1-year-old sucker growth that originated on a long broken  stub (50). Small insects appear to be the chief pollinators (25).

    The fruits-acrid drupes each containing a single, thin-shelled,  nutlike seed 15 min (0.6 in) in diameter-ripen in the first  autumn after flowering (52). As drupes mature, their thin, fleshy  hull changes from medium green to speckled yellow-green, pale  yellow, or various other hues from yellow-green tinged with dull  red or purple through purplish brown to purple. Ripe drupes may  be yellow-green on one tree, dark purple on an adjacent tree  (11).

Edible 8

The fruit from this tree is closely related to avocado as can be seen from the flesh covering the seed which can be quite delicious raw or boiled. The kernels also can have a very pleasing aroma when baked like coffee beans though it might have a bitter aftertaste. The kernel was also grounded into flour by the Native Americans to be included as an ingredient for cakes. These kernels also have a similar stimulant effect as coffee

Sources and Credits

  1. (c) kqedquest, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), http://www.flickr.com/photos/48372717@N00/907884701
  2. (c) Kerry Woods, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-ND), http://www.flickr.com/photos/93854456@N03/9806454144/
  3. (c) Ken-ichi Ueda, some rights reserved (CC BY), http://www.flickr.com/photos/ken-ichi/8065925660/
  4. Public Domain, http://eol.org/data_objects/24266365
  5. (c) USDA NRCS National Plant Data Center, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/1396635
  6. (c) Unknown, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), http://eol.org/data_objects/22779651
  7. (c) Unknown, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), http://eol.org/data_objects/22779654
  8. (c) jihyunan, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA)

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