Luurtts airolinensis, 

 THE CAROLINA LAUKEL-TREE. 



^t^noni/mcs. 



LauTui carolinensis, 



Laurier de la Caroline, 



Carolinischer Lorberbaum, Rolhcr Lor- 

 berbauni, 



AHoro di Carolina, 



Carolina Laurel-troe, Red Bay-tree, Broad- 

 leaved Carolina Bay-tree, 



Carolina Laurel-tree, Red Bay-tree, 



Catksby, Natural History of Care jna. 

 IMicHAUX, Nonli American Sylva. 

 Loudon, Arboretum Britannicum. 

 France. 



\ Germ AM y. 



Italy. 



Britain. 



United States. 



Engravings. Caiesby, Natural History of Carolina, pi. 63 ; Michaux, North American Sylva, pi. 82 ; Loudon, Arboretum Br. 

 Wniiicura, iii., fig. 1168; and the figures below. 



Specific Characters. Evergreen. Leaves oval, lanceolate, slightly glaucous beneath, 

 cled axillary groups. Sprengel, Syst. Veg. 



Flowers ia pedun 



-4S 



Descriptioti. 



<^A 



HE Carolina Laurel, al- 

 I though it sometimes at- 

 tains a height of sixty or 

 ^^ seventy feet, in its natu- 

 ral habitat, with a trunk fifteen or twenty inches 

 in diameter, rarely exhibits a regular form : its 

 stem generally being crooked, and divided into 

 several thick limbs, eight, ten, or twelve feet 

 above the ground. Upon the trunks of old trees, 

 the bark is thick, and deeply furrowed ; but on 

 young stocks and branches, it is smooth, and of 

 a beautiful green colour. The leaves are -about 

 six inches long, alternate, oval-acuminate, glau- 

 cous on the lower surface, and evergreen. The 

 male flowers come out in April or May, in long 

 clusters from the axils of the leaves ; and the 

 female flowers occur in loose bunches, on rather 

 long, red peduncles. The berries, which are of an oval form, and of a rich, dark- 

 blue, grow in red cups, and occur two, and sometimes three together. 



Varieties. Michaux states that this tree differs exceedingly in its character, 

 according to the latitude in which it grows. Lato'vs borbonia^ of Linnseus, is 

 probably the form which it assumes in the southern states ; and L. caroliiiensis^ 

 the one in which it appears in the more northern states. The three following 

 varieties appear to be distinctly marked, all of which were introduced into Brit- 

 ain, in 18U6 : 



1. li. c. GLABRA, Pursh. Glabrous-lsaved Carolina Laurel, with leaves slightly 

 glabrous. 



2. L. c. PUBEscENs, Pursh. Pubescent-leaved Carolina Laurel, having slightly 

 pubescent leaves. 



3. L. c. OBTUSA, Pursh. Obtuse-leaved Caroli?ia Laurel, with the leaves ovatP- 



