Madeira laurel
Laurus novocanariensis
Family · Lauraceae · Irritating
_01_ies.jpg){kind=link}
The laurel of Madeira and the Canaries, one of the four trees forming the canopy of Madeiran laurisilva. It is the commonest tree in that forest and the first one you recognise by smell.
Oak woods · Uplands · Streams and ditches
Also known asCanary laurel
How to tell it
Alternate, lance-shaped, leathery glossy leaves that smell strongly of bay when crushed. Young shoots reddish and hairy. In the vein axils beneath there are domatia, small hairy pockets visible against the light. Oval berries turning from green to black. Range: Madeira and the Canaries, absent from the mainland.
What it is confused with
Azores laurel
Laurus azorica
They are siblings and are told apart by where they are: the Azorean one in the Azores, this in Madeira and the Canaries. Neither is harmful and both serve as seasoning.
What it is for
A seasoning leaf in Madeiran cooking, and the wood of the bay-stick skewers that are a festival dish there. The timber also served in shipbuilding. The berries are not eaten.
Traditionally used as food. This is not permission to eat it.
Where it occurs
Each square is an area with recorded observations of this plant. The lighter background is the set of areas where any of the entries has been observed, and serves as a reference. Note what this is not: it is not where the plant lives, it is where people record it, so trails and towns always look fuller than the mountains. Data from GBIF.
Sources
Community
No approved contributions for this entry yet.
Nothing appears here without a person reading it first. Contributions do not replace the entry or its warnings: until a botanist confirms, what is written above stands.