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section Cerasus (to which also belongs the cherry) of the genus Prunus. The common laurel is a native of the woody and sub-alpine regions of the See also:

CAUCASUS

Caucasus, of the mountains of See also:

NORTHERN

northern See also:

PERSIA

Persia, of See also:

north-western See also:

ASIA

Asia See also:

Minor and of the See also:

CRIMEA (ancient Tauris or Tauric Chersonese, called by the Russians by the Tatar name Krym or Crim)

Crimea. It was received into See also:

EUROPE

Europe in 1576, and flowered for the first See also:

time in 1583. See also:

Ray in 1688 relates that it was first brought from Trebizonde to See also:

Constantinople, thence to See also:

Italy, See also:

France, See also:

Germany and See also:

England. See also:

PARKINSON, JAMES (d. 1824)

Parkinson in his Paradisus records it as growing in a See also:

GARDEN (from O. Fr. garden, mod. Fr. jardin; this, like our words " garth," a paddock attached to a building, and " yard," comes from a Teutonic word for an enclosure which appears in Gothic as gards and O. H. Ger. gart, cf. Dutch gaarde and Ger. .garten)

garden at See also:

HIGHGATE

Highgate in 1629; and in See also:

Johnson's edition of See also:

Gerard's Herbal (1633) it is recorded that the plant " is now got into many of our choice See also:

ENGLISH

English gardens, where it is well respected for the beauty of the leaues and their lasting or continuall greennesse (see Loudon's See also:

ARBORETUM

Arboretum, ii. 717). The leaves of this plant are rather large, broadly See also:

LANCE

lance-shaped and of a leathery consistence, the margin being somewhat serrated. They are remarkable for their poisonous properties, giving off the odour of See also:

BITTER, KARL THEODORE FRANCIS (1867– )

bitter almonds when bruised; the vapour thus issuing is sufficient to kill small See also:

INSECTS

insects by the prussic See also:

ACID (from the Lat. root ac-, sharp; acere, to be sour)

acid which it contains. The leaves when cut up finely and distilled yield oil of bitter almonds and hydrocyanic (prussic) acid. Sweetmeats, custards, cream, &c., are often flavoured with laurel-See also:

LEAF (O. Eng. leaf, cf. Dutch loof, Ger. Laub, Swed. lof, &c.; possibly to be referred to the root seen in Gr. Ma-eta, to peel, strip)

leaf See also:

WATER

water, as it imparts the same flavour as bitter almonds; but it should be used sparingly, as it is a dangerous See also:

POISON

poison, having several times proved fatal.

The first See also:

case occurred in 1731, which induced a careful investigation to be made of its nature; See also:

SCHRADER, EBERHARD (1836-1908)

Schrader in 1802 discovered it to contain hydrocyanic acid. The effects of the distilled laurel-leaf water on living vegetables is to destroy them like See also:

ORDINARY (med. Lat. ordinarius, Fr. ordinaire)

ordinary prussic acid; while a few drops See also:

ACT (Lat. actus, actum)

act on animals as a powerful poison. It was introduced into the See also:

BRITISH

British See also:

PHARMACOPOEIA (lit. the art of the OapµaK07robbs, or drug-compounder)

pharmacopoeia in 1839, but is generally superseded by the use of prussic acid. The aqua laurocerasi, or cherry laurel water, is now standardized to contain o.1%, of hydrocyanic acid. It must not be given in doses larger than 2 drachms. It contains benzole See also:

HYDRATE

hydrate, which is antiseptic, and is therefore suitable for hypodermic injection; but the See also:

drug is of inconsistent strength, owing to the volatility of prussic acid. The following varieties of the common laurel are in cultivation: the Caucasian (Prunus Laurocerasus, See also:

var. caucasica), which is hardier and bears very See also:

rich dark-See also:

green glossy foliage; the See also:

VERSAILLES

Versailles laurel (var. latifolia), which has larger leaves; the Colchican (var. colchica), which is a See also:

DWARF (A.S. dweorg, D. dwerg, Icel. dvergr)

dwarf-spreading See also:

BUSH

bush with narrow sharply serrated See also:

PALE (through Fr. pal, from Lat. palms, a stake, for paglus, from the stem pag- of pangere, to fix; " pole " is from the same original source)

pale-green leaves. There is also the variety rotundifolia with See also:

SHORT, FRANCIS JOB (1857– )

short broad leaves, the Grecian with narrow leaves and the Alexandrian with very small leaves. The Portugal laurel is a native of Portugal and See also:

Madeira. It was introduced into England about the See also:

YEAR

year 1648, when it was cultivated in the See also:

Oxford Botanic Gardens. During the first See also:

HALF

half of the 18th See also:

CENTURY (from Lat. centuria, a division of a hundred men)

century this plant, the common laurel and the See also:

HOLLY (Ilex Aquifolium)

holly were almost the only See also:

hardy See also:

EVERGREEN

evergreen shrubs procurable in British nurseries. They are all three See also:

TENDER

tender about See also:

Paris, and consequently much less seen in the neighbourhood of that citythan in England, where they stand the ordinary winters but not very severe ones.

There is a variety (myrtifolia) of compact See also:

HABIT (through the French from Lat. habitus, from habere, to have, hold, or, in a reflective sense, to be in a certain condition; in many of the English senses the French use habitude, not habit)

habit with smaller narrow leaves, also a variegated variety. The evergreen glossy foliage of the common and Portugal laurels render them well adapted for shrubberies, while the racemes of See also:

white See also:

FLOWERS, ARTIFICIAL

flowers are not devoid of beauty. The former often ripens its insipid drupes, but the Portugal rarely does so. It appears to be less able to accommodate itself to the English See also:

CLIMATE

climate, as the See also:

wood does not usually " ripen " so satisfactorily. Hence it is rather more liable to be cut by the See also:

frost. It is grown in the open See also:

air in the See also:

SOUTHERN

southern See also:

UNITED

United States. The bay or sweet laurel (Laurus nobilis) belongs to the family Lauraceae, which contains sassafras, See also:

BENZOIN

benzoin, camphor and other trees remarkable for their aromatic properties. It is a large evergreen See also:

SHRUB

shrub, sometimes reaching the height of 6o ft., but rarely assuming a truly See also:

tree-like See also:

CHARACTER (Gr. xapareri7p, from xap&crew, to scratch)

character. The leaves are smaller than those of the preceding laurels, possessing an aromatic and slightly bitter flavour, and are quite devoid of the poisonous properties of the cherry laurel. The small yellowish-green flowers are produced in axillary clusters, are male or See also:

FEMALE

female, and consist of a See also:

SIMPLE

simple 4-leaved perianth which encloses nine stamens in the male, the anthers of which dehisce by valves which lift upwards as in the common See also:

BARBERRY (Berberis vulgaris)

barberry, and carry glandular processes at the See also:

BASE

base of the filament. The See also:

FRUIT (through the French from the Lat. fructus; frui, to enjoy)

fruit consists of a succulent See also:

berry surrounded by the persistent base of the perianth. The bay laurel is a native of Italy, See also:

GREECE

Greece and North See also:

Africa, and is abundantly grown in the British Isles as an evergreen shrub, as it stands most winters.

The date of its introduction is unknown, but must have been previous to 1562, as it is mentioned in See also:

Turner's Herbal published in that year. A full description also occurs in Gerard's Herball (1597, p. 1222). It was used for strewing the floors of houses of distinguished persons in the reign of See also:

Elizabeth. Several varieties have been cultivated, differing in the character of their foliage, as the undulata or See also:

WAVE

wave-leafed, salicifolia or See also:

WILLOW (Salix)

willow-leafed, the variegated, the broad-leafed and the curled; there is also the See also:

double-flowered variety. The bay laurel was carried to North See also:

AMERICA

America by the See also:

early colonists. This laurel is generally held to be the Daphne of the ancients, though See also:

Lindley, following Gerard (Herball, 1597, p. 761), asserted that the See also:

Greek Daphne was Ruscus racemosus. Among the Greeks the laurel was sacred to See also:

APOLLO (Gr. 'A2r6XXwv,'Airkkhwv)

Apollo, especially in connexion with See also:

TEMPE, VALE QF

Tempe, in whose laurel groves the See also:

god himself obtained See also:

PURIFICATION

purification from the See also:

BLOOD

blood of the See also:

PYTHON

Python. This See also:

LEGEND (through the French from the med. Lat. legenda, things to be read, from legere, to read)

legend was dramatically represented at the Pythian festival once in eight years, a boy fleeing from See also:

DELPHI (the Pytho of Homer and Herodotus; in Boeotian inscriptions BeA4oi, on coins Aa)tg5oi)

Delphi to Tempe, and after a time being led back with See also:

SONG

song, crowned and adorned with laurel. Similar Sadivriq opiat were known elsewhere in Greece. Apollo, himself purified, was the author of purification and See also:

ATONEMENT

atonement to other penitents, and the laurel was the See also:

SYMBOL (Gr. o-uµ(3oXov, a sign)

symbol of this See also:

POWER [WILLIAM GRATTAN] TYRONE (1797-1841)

power, which came to be generally associated with his See also:

PERSON, OFFENCES AGAINST THE

person and sanctuaries.

The relation of Apollo to the laurel was expressed in the legend of Daphne (q.v.). The victors in the Pythian See also:

GAMES, CLASSICAL

games were crowned with the laurels of Apollo, and thus the laurel became the symbol of See also:

TRIUMPH (triumphus)

triumph in See also:

Rome as well as in Greece. As Apollo was the god of poets, the Laurea See also:

Apollinaris naturally belonged to poetic merit (see See also:

LAUREATE (Lat. laureatus, from laurea, the laurel tree)

LAUREATE). The various prerogatives of the laurel among the ancients are collected by See also:

Pliny (Hist. Nat. xv. 30). It was a sign of truce, like the See also:

OLIVE (Olea europaea)

olive See also:

BRANCH (from the Fr. branche, late Lat. branca, an animal's paw)

branch; letters announcing victory and the arms of the victorious soldiery were garnished with it; it was thought that See also:

LIGHTNING

lightning could not strike it, and the See also:

EMPEROR (Fr. empereur, from the Lat. imperator)

emperor Tiberius always wore a laurel See also:

WREATH (O. Eng. wry, from wriian, to twist)

wreath during See also:

THUNDER

thunder-storms. From its association with the divine power of purification and See also:

PROTECTION

protection, it was often set before the See also:

DOOR (corresponding to the Gr. Bbpa,. Lat. fores or valvae; the English word, with other forms common in allied languages, comes from the same Indo-European stem as the Gr. Obpa and Lat. fares)

door of Greek houses, and among the See also:

Romans it was the See also:

GUARDIAN

guardian of the See also:

GATES, HORATIO (1728-1806)

gates of the Caesars (See also:

OVID [PUBLIUS OvID1us NASO] (43 B.C.–A.D. 17)

Ovid, Met. i. 562 sq.). The laurel worn by See also:

AUGUSTUS (a name 1 derived from Lat. augeo, increase, i.e. venerable, majestic, Gr. Ee0avr6s)

Augustus and his successors had a miraculous See also:

HISTORY

history: the laurel See also:

grove at the imperial See also:

VILLA

villa by the ninth milestone on the Flaminian way sprang from a shoot sent from See also:

HEAVEN (0. Eng. hefen, heofon, heofone; this word appears in O.S. hevan; the High. Ger. word appears in Ger. Himmel, Dutch hemel; there does not seem to be any connexion between the two words, and the ultimate derivation of the word is unknown; the sugges

heaven to Livia Drusilla (Sueton. See also:

GALBA, SERVIUS SULPICIUS

Galba, i.). Like the olive, the laurel was forbidden to profane use.

It was employed in See also:

divination; the crackling of its leaves in the sacred See also:

FLAME (Lat. flamma; the root flag- appears in flagrare, to burn, blaze, and Gr. d, XEryew)

flame was a See also:

GOOD, JOHN MASON (1764-1827)

good See also:

OMEN (a Latin word, either connected with os, mouth, or more probably with auris (Gr. ois, ear; apparently, meaning " a thing heard " or " spoken ")

omen (Tibull. ii. 5. 81), and their silence unlucky (Propert. ii. 21); and the leaves when chewed excited a prophetic afflatus (3acbvl74ayoi, cf. Tibull. ii. 5. 63). There is a poem enumerating the See also:

ancient virtues of the laurel by J. Passeratius (1594). The last of the See also:

PLANTS

plants mentioned above under the name of laurel is the so-called spurge laurel (Daphne Laureola). This and one other See also:

SPECIES

species (D. Mezereum), the mezereon, are the See also:

SOLE (Solea)

sole representatives of the family Thymelaeaceae in Great Britain.

The spurge laurel is a small evergreen shrub, with alternate somewhat lanceolate leaves with entire margins. The green flowers are produced in early See also:

SPRING (from " to spring," " to leap or jump up," " burst out," O. Eng., springau, a common Teut. word, cf. Ger. springer, possibly allied to Gr. QnrFpxecOac, to move rapidly)

spring, and See also:

FORM (Lat. forma)

form drooping clusters at the base of the leaves. The calyx is four-cleft, and carries eight stamens in two circles of four each within the See also:

TUBE (Lat. tuba)

tube. The See also:

PISTIL

pistil forms a berry, green at first, but finally See also:

black. The mezereon differs in blossoming before the leaves are produced, while the flowers are See also:

LILAC

lilac instead of green. The bark furnishes the drug Cortex Mezerei, for which that of the spurge laurel is often substituted. Both are powerfully acrid, but the latter is less so than the bark of mezereon. It is now only used as an ingredient of the liquor sarsae compositus concentratus. Of other species in cultivation there are D. Fortunei from See also:

CHINA

China, which has lilac flowers; D. pontica, a native of Asia Minor; D. alpina, from the See also:

ITALIAN

Italian See also:

ALPS

Alps; D. collina, See also:

south See also:

EUROPEAN

European; and D. Cneorum, the See also:

GARLAND, JOHN (fl. 1202—1252)

garland See also:

flower or trailing daphne, the handsomest of the hardy species. See Hemsley's Handbook of Hardy Trees, &'c.

End of Article: LAUREL

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