LAUREL

From Agepedia

LAUREL (laurus); a genus of plants consisting of trees or shrubs, mostly aromatic, and often remarkable for the beauty of their foliage. The leaves are simple, generally alternate, and the flowers small and inconspicuous. It is one of the few genera belonging to the Linnaean class enneandria. The species inhabit the tropical parts of the globe, and the warm regions in the vicinity ; two of the American species, however, extend to a high northern latitude. Cinnamon, cassia and camphor are obtained from different species of laurus. The sweet bay (L. nobilis), so celebrated by the ancient poets, and used to decorate temples and the brows of victors, is a small ornamental evergreen tree, inhabiting the south of Europe and north of Africa. At the present time, the leaves and berries are chiefly employed for culinary purposes, and form an article of export, even to theU. States. The red bay (Zr. Caroliniensis) inhabits the alluvial district of' the southern parts of the U. States, from latitude 37° to the gulf of Mexico, and is found westward beyond the mouths of the Mississippi. It is a beautiful tree, growing in the low grounds, in company with the cypress, and sometimes attains the height of 60 or 70 feet, with a trunk a foot or 18 inches in diameter. The leaves have an aroma very similar to that of the L. nobilis, and may be employed for the same purposes. The wood, which is strong, finegrained, and capable of receiving a brilliant polish, was formerly employed, in the Southern States, in cabinetmaking, and afforded very beautiful furniture ; but the difficulty of finding stocks of sufficient size, together with the facility of procuring mahogany, has brought it into disuse. At present, it is chiefly employed in naval architecture, whenever it attains large dimensions. The wood is used also, in preference to any other, for treenails (wooden pins which fasten the planks of a ship to the timbers). The sassafras, so remarkable for having its leaves either simple, or divided into two or three lobes, is also a species of laurus. Though usually appearing as a shrub, it not unfrequently attains considerable dimensions, growing, in a rich soil, to the height of 40 or 50 feet, or even more, with a trunk of proportional diameter. It is common throughout the U. States, as far north as latitude 43°, and extends westward even into Mexico. The bark of the roots, which is the most powerfully aromatic part of the plant, has been in high repute as a medicine from the discovery of America, and is still exported to Europe in considerable quantities, but its virtues have been very much overrated, although it is yet frequently employed in pharmacy. A very agreeable beverage is made, in some parts of the U. States, of this bark, in combination with other substances, and it is also employed in dyeing, affording a beautiful orange color. The L. benZoin, or feverbush, is also an agreeably aromatic shrub, as widely extended throughout the U. States as the preceding. Four other species of laurus are found in the Southern States. Michaux strenuously recommends the introduction of the camphor tree (L. camphora) into the Southern States, and is of opinion, that it would soon become naturalized. The alligator pear, which forms a frequent article of nutriment in the West Indies, and is much cultivated for that purpose, is also the fruit of a species of laurus.