GENUS i. 



LAUREL FAMILY. 



133 



Family 35. LAURACEAE Lindl. Nat. Syst. Ed. 2, 200. 1836. 



LAUREL FAMILY. 



Aromatic trees and shrubs, with simple, alternate (very rarely opposite) 

 mostly thick evergreen or deciduous, punctate exstipulate leaves. Flowers small, 

 perfect, polygamous, dioecious, or sometimes monoecious, usually fragrant, yellow 

 or greenish in panicles, corymbs, racemes or umbels. Calyx 4-6-parted, the seg- 

 ments imbricated in 2 series in the bud. Corolla none. Stamens inserted in 3 

 or 4 series of 3 on the calyx, distinct, some of them commonly imperfect or 

 reduced to staminodia ; anthers 2-celled or 4-celled, opening by valves. Ovary 

 superior, free from the calyx, i -celled; ovule solitary, anatropous, pendulous; 

 style filiform or short, rarely almost wanting; stigma discoid or capitate. Fruit a 

 i-seeded drupe or berry. Endosperm of the seed none. Cotyledons plano-convex, 

 accumbent. 



About 40 genera and probably 1000 species, widely distributed in tropical regions; a few in the 

 temperate zones. 



Flowers perfect, panicled ; leaves evergreen. i. Persea. 

 Flowers mostly dioecious, racemose or umbellate ; leaves deciduous. 

 Anthers 4-celled, 4-valved. 



Flowers in umbelled racemes ; leaves, or some of them, lobed- 2. Sassafras. 



Flowers in capitate umbels ; leaves all entire. 3. Glabraria. 



Anthers 2-celled, 2-valved ; leaves entire. 4. Benzoin. 



i. PERSEA [Plum.] Gaertn. f. Fr. & Sem. 3: 222. 1805. 



Trees or shrubs, with alternate coriaceous persistent entire leaves, and perfect panicled 

 flowers. Calyx 6-parted, persistent, its segments equal or unequal. Stamens 12, in 4 series 

 of 3, the inner series reduced to gland-like staminodia, the 3 other series anther-bearing, their 

 anthers 4-celled, 4-valved, those of the third series extrorse and the others introrse in our 

 species. Staminodia large, cordate, stalked. Fruit a globose or oblong berry. [Ancient 

 name of some oriental tree.] 



About 50 species, natives of America. Besides the following another occurs in Florida. Type 

 species : Persea gratissima Gaertn. f. (Persea Persea (L.) Cockerell, the alligator-pear.) 



Twigs and petioles puberulent or nearly glabrous. 

 Twigs and petioles densely tomentose. 



1. P. Borbonia. 



2. P. pubescens. 



i. Persea Borbonia (L.) Spreng. Red or Sweet Bay. Isabella-wood. 



Fig. 1967. 



Laurus Borbonia L. Sp. PI. 370. 1753. 

 Persea Borbonia Spreng. Syst. 2: 268. 1825. 

 Persea carolinensis Nees, Syst. 150. 1836. 

 Notaphoebe Borbonia Pax in Engler & Prantl, Nat. Pflf. 

 3: Abt. 2, 1 1 6. 1889. 



A tree, with dark red bark, reaching a maximum 

 height of about 65 and a trunk diameter of 3. 

 Twigs puberulent or nearly glabrous. Leaves lan- 

 ceolate, oblong or oblong-lanceolate, bright green 

 above, paler beneath, glabrous when mature, 2'-7' 

 long, i '-2' wide, obscurely pinnately veined, acute, 

 acuminate or some of them obtuse at the apex, nar- 

 rowed at the base; petioles \'-\' long; peduncles 

 short, axillary, often little longer than the petioles, 

 bearing few-flowered panicles ; calyx puberulent, 

 spreading in fruit, its inner segments longer than 

 the outer; berries dark blue, V in diameter or more, 

 their pedicels thick, red. 



Along streams and borders of swamps, Delaware to 

 Florida and Texas, near the coast, north to Arkansas. ^, 



Wood hard, strong ; color bright red ; weight per cubic foot, 40 Ibs. April-June. Fruit ripe Aug.- 

 Sept. False mahogany. Bay-galls. White bay. Tisswood. 





