24 



L A U 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



LAU 



6. Laurus Chloroxylon ; Jamaica Laurel, or Greenwood. 

 Leaves three-nerved, ovate, coriaceous ; nerves reaching the 

 tip. This tree rises with a strong branched trunk to a very 

 considerable height; the inward bark is of a light blood 

 colour, inclosing a strong greenish timber; leaves smooth, 

 resembling those of the Camphor-tree; fruit scattered up 

 and down upon the branches, about the size of a hazel-nut. 

 The wood is very tough and hard, answering better than any 

 other sort for the cogs in the rolls of a sugar mill : it is 

 generally esteemed as one of the best timber-woods in the 

 island of Jamaica, and used on all occasions where strength 

 and durability are required. 



7. Laurus Glauca. Leaves nerved, lanceolate, perennial; 

 branchlets tubercled ; flowers solitary. This is a tree with 

 spreading branches. The expressed oil of the nuts is used 

 in Japan for making candles. Native of Japan. 



8. Laurus Pedunculata. Leaves nerved, oblong, entire ; 

 flowers solitary, peduncled. Stem shrubby; branches round, 

 knobbed with fallen leaves. Native of Japan. 



9. Laurus Nobilis ; Common Sweet Hay. Leaves ovate- 

 lanceolate, perennial, veined, shining ; axils of the veins 

 glandular underneath ; flowers in very short racemes. The 

 leaves are of a deep green, highly and pleasantly aromatic ; 

 flowers borne by old trees only, pale yellow ; fruit black, the 

 size of an unripe olive, strongly aromatic. This celebrated 

 plant has attracted the attention of all ages. In England it 

 appears only as a shrub, but in the southern parts of Europe 

 it becomes a tree of twenty or thirty feet in height ; much 

 subject, however, in general, to put out suckers. There is 

 some confusion among persons ignorant of Botany, between 

 this plant and what we now commonly call Laurel (Prunus 

 Laurocerasus) which is known only to modern times. What 

 we now call Bay was formerly and correctly called Laurel, and 

 the fruit alone was named Bayes. It is certainly the Aa^rq 

 (Daphne) of the Greeks, and the true Laurus of the Romans, 

 which was destined to furnish the Delphic wreath, to grace 

 the head of the triumphant hero, to guard the gate of the 

 Caesars and the Pontifex Maximus, and to be placed on the 

 houses of the sick. The Delphic priestess wore it on her 

 head, and chewed the leaves, and then threw them on the 

 sacred fire. Mr. Miller makes three sorts of the Sweet Bay. 



1. The Broad-leaved Bay of Asia, Spain, and Italy, (almost 

 too tender for the open air in England,) with leaves much 

 broader and smoother than those of the common sort. 



2. The Common Bay, which is seldom hurt with us except 

 in very severe winters ; of this there are two varieties, one 

 with plain leaves, the other with leaves waved on the edges. 



3. The Narrow-leaved Bay, with very long narrow leaves, not 

 so thick as those of the two preceding, and of a light green ; 

 the branches are covered with a purplish bark, and the male 

 flowers come out in small clusters from the axils of the 

 leaves, sitting close to the branches. It is to be found in the 

 nurseries with variegated leaves ; and other trifling varieties 

 are mentioned by old authors. The leaves and berries have 

 an aromatic astringent taste, and a fragrant smell ; the ber- 

 ries are much stronger than the leaves : both are accounted 

 stomachic, carminative, and uterine ; in which intention the 

 leaves are infused and drank as tea, and the essential oil of 

 the berries administered on sugar, or dissolved by means of 

 mucilages, or in spirits of wine, in the dose of a few drops : 

 they are also very useful in fomentations, &c. : The berries 

 are given in powder or infusion, they are of a more heating 

 nature than the leaves, and are excellent to attenuate cold 

 thick viscid humours, create an appetite, remove obstructions, 

 promote the menses, and the necessary evacuations after 

 delivery. Four or five moderate doses will frequently cure the 



ague, and people who are troubled with paralytic disorders, 

 would often find relief from small doses of them continued for 

 a considerable length of time. There is an oil or ointment 

 made from them, and kept in the shops, which is good for 

 pains in the joints, the cramp, numbness of the limbs, &c.; it 

 also alleviates pain in the ears, by being dropped into them; 

 and speedily takes away the black and blue marks occasioned 

 by blows and falls. The Germans call this plant lorbeerbaum ; 

 the Danes laurbccrtrae ; the Swedes, lagerbarstrad ; the 

 French, laurier ; the Italians, alloro ; the Spaniards, laurel; 

 the Portuguese, loiro and loireiro ; and the Russians, lawr 

 or lawro woe derewo Native of the southern parts of 

 Europe, and of Asia. Ray observed it in the woods and 

 hedges of Italy. Haller says it abounds in all the orchards 

 about Moutru, near the lake of Geneva, According to 

 Scopoli, it is found in the woods of Istria. Bellonius 

 remarked it on Mount Ida, and in very large trees on mount 

 Athos. Abbe St. Pierre observes, that fine Bay-trees are 

 no where more common than on the banks of the river Peneus 

 in Thessaly, which might well give occasion to the fabled 

 metamorphoses of Daphne, daughter of that river. Mr. Eve- 

 lyn makes mention of Bay-trees thirty feet high, and almost 

 two feet in diameter in the trunk. In the last century, 

 abundance of these trees were raised, with curious round 

 heads, and kept in tubs ; they were imported from the con- 

 tinent. The berries are ripe at the end of January or begin- 

 ning of February, when they ought to be gathered, and pre- 

 served in dry sand till the beginning of March ; then, or as 

 soon as the weather becomes favourable, on a shady border 

 of rich loose undunged soil, made fine, and well protected, 

 drop the berries in rows fifteen inches asunder, and four 

 inches in the row, sifting over them fine rich mould an inch 

 thick : as soon as you perceive the plants to heave up the 

 earth, refresh them frequently but moderately with water in 

 the mornings when cold, in the evenings when mild weather, 

 and continue to do so all the summer months. Let them 

 remain two years, watering them during the second summer. 

 This species is generally propagated by suckers ; but it may 

 be propagated by layers, so also may the tenth and thirteenth 

 species. The best way, however, is to sow the berries in 

 pots, and plunge them into a moderate hot-bed, which will 

 bring up the plants much sooner than if they were sown in 

 the full ground, and they will have more time to acquire 

 strength before winter ; but the plants must not be forced 

 with heat, therefore they should be inured to bear the open 

 air at the beginning of June, into which they should be 

 removed, where they may remain till autumn : then the pots 

 should be placed under a common frame, that the plants 

 may be protected from hard frost, but in mild weather they 

 may enjoy the free air ; for while the plants are so young, 

 they are in danger of suffering in hard frost. The spring 

 following, those sorts which will not live in the open air, 

 should be each transplanted into separate pots ; but the com- 

 mon sorts may be planted in nursery beds, six inches asunder 

 each way, where they may grow two years, by which time 

 they will be fit to plant where they are designed to grow : 

 the other sort must be constantly kept in pots, and should 

 every year be new potted, and, as they advance in growth, 

 they must have larger pots. As these plants require shelter 

 in winter, a few of them will be enough for a large green- 

 house. Such as are intended to be increased by layers, 

 should be laid down in March or August ; the latter is the 

 best season, and by the second spring will make good plants. 

 This sort will also grow by cuttings, though but slowly 

 in the open ground; in the beginning of April, therefore, 

 prepare a moderate hot-bed of tanner's bark, and cover 



