Azores laurel

Description

Laurus azorica, the Azores laurel or Macaronesian laurel is a species of plant in the laurel family (Lauraceae). It is endemic to the Azores. The Azores laurel is a small dioecious tree, growing up to 15 m (49 ft) in height. Each flower is fragrant, creamy white, about 1 cm diameter, and they are borne in pairs beside a leaf. The leaves are large, shiny dark green, broadly ovoid, 7–14 cm long and 4–8 cm broad, with an entire margin. The fruit is a black drupe about 1–2 cm long. Laurus azorica is native to the Azores, where it is found in all of the islands. It is a major component of the laurisilva and high altitude juniper forests, occasionally with Myrica faya and Picconia azorica populations in mid-altitude. It is also found in lava flows, margins of cultivated land, coastal scrubland, mountain scrubland and forested peat bogs. As the result of a recent taxonomic change, Laurus azorica is now restricted to the archipelago of the Azores, whereas former populations of this species from the western Canary islands including Gran Canaria and from the Madeira archipelago have been described as a new species Laurus is a genus of evergreen trees or shrubs belonging to the laurel family, Lauraceae. The genus contains three or more species,including the bay laurel or sweet bay, L. nobilis, widely cultivated as an ornamental plant and a culinary herb. They are slow-growing, large, evergreen aromatic shrubs or trees with alternate, ovate leaves and insignificant yellow male and female flowers borne on separate plants (dioecious). They are frost-hardy but in temperate zones they require a sheltered spot in full sun that is not subject to prolonged freezing. Plants in pots can be moved into a cold greenhouse during the winter months. Fossils dating from before the Pleistocene glaciations show that species of Laurus were formerly distributed more widely around the Mediterranean and North Africa, when the climate was more humid and mild than at present. It is currently thought that the drying of the Mediterranean basin during the glaciations caused Laurus to retreat to the mildest climate refuges, including southern Spain, Portugal and the Macaronesian islands. With the end of the last glacial period, L. nobilis recovered some of its former range around the Mediterranean.