CHAP. XLII. ROSA‘CEX. CE'RASUS. 715 
Description. The Portugal laurel has 
an erect stem, regularly branched on every 
side; seldom exceeding 20 ft. in height ; 
but in favourable situations, when pruned 
to a single stem, attaining the height of 
30 ft. or 40 ft., or upwards. It is generally, 
wever, seen as an immense bush. The 
bark of the trunk is white or greyish, and 
that of the young branches of a shining 
purplish black. The leaves are of a lucid 
green, and the flowers, which appear in 
June, and are in long bunches, are suc- 
ceeded by oval berries of a dark purple 
when ripe. The tree grows freely in any 
soil that is very dry and poor, or very 
wet. It flowers and ripens its seeds freely 
in the neighbourhood of London, but 
rarely in the neighbourhood of Paris, 
where it requires protection during winter. It is not of rapid growth, seldom 
making shoots more than 9 in. or 10in. in length; but, when planted in good 
free soil, and trained to a single stem, plants, in the neighbourhood of London, 
will reach the height of from 12 ft. to 15ft.in 10 years. > 
Geography, History, §c. The Portugal laurel was received from Portugal about 
1648, the date of its culture in the Oxford Botanic Garden. According to the 
Kew Catalogue, it is a native of Portugal and Madeira; and according to the 
Nouveau Du Hamel, of Portugal and Pennsylvania. That it is not a native 
of Pennsylvania appears certain, from its not being mcluded in any of the 
different American floras that have been published. P. B. Webb, Esq., informs 
us that, in 1827, he found the common Portugal laurel, on the Serra de 
Gerez, in Portugal, growing about half-way up the mountain, and forming 
a small tree, from 13 ft. to 20ft. high: the hixa he found growing along 
with it, and forming a tree from 60 ft. to 70 ft. high. The Portugal laurel 
soon became a favourite in Britain; and, indeed, during the first half of 
the 18th century, this plant, the common laurel, and the holly were almost 
the only hardy evergreen shrubs procurable in British nurseries; in con- 
sequence of which they were planted every where. In the neighbourhood 
of Paris, the Portugal laurel is rather tender, seldom ripening its fruit, 
and frequently having its young shoots killed back by the frost; and in 
Germany it is almost every where a green-house shrub. The original tree, 
in the Oxford Botanic Garden, perhaps the first of the species that was 
planted in Britain (unless there was one also in the Eltham Botanic Garden, 
from which the plant was figured in the Hortus Eithamensis), was cut down 
about 1826. It was about 25 ft. or 30 ft. high; and the trunk, at 1 ft. from 
the ground, was nearly 2 ft. in diameter. 
Properties and Uses, Soil, §c. In Britain, it is generally planted solely as 
an ornamental evergreen; but sometimes hedges are formed of it in nursery- 
grounds and flower-gardens. The berries are greedily eaten by birds, and, as 
well as those of the common laurel, form a favourite food for pheasants. 
What renders the tree particularly valuable, Miller observes, is its being “ so 
very hardy as to defy the severest cold of this country; for, in the hard frost 
of 1740, when almost every other evergreen tree and shrub was severely 
pinched, the Portugal laurels retained their verdure, and seemed to have felt 
no injury.” (Dict., 6th edit. p. 5.) In British nurseries, it is propagated by 
seeds, which, before and after sowing, are treated like those of the common 
wild cherry (C. sylvéstris), or those of the bird cherry (C. Padus). 
Statistics. In the neighbourhood of London, at Syon, there are several Portugal laurels, 18 ft. 
and upwards in height, and with trunks 18 in. in diameter; and at Charlton House, an old tree 
irts 7ft. 8in. at 1 ft. from the ground; but the largest Portugal laurel in England is at Cobham 
all, in Kent, where it is 40 ft. high, with a trunk 2ft. in diameter; and at Eastwell Park, in 
the same county, there is a tree, or rather bush, which, when we saw it in the autumn of 1826, 

