LATJRACEAE. 



73 



LAURUS. Laurel. 

 (Family Lauraceae). 



Small aromatic tender trees: 

 evergreen. Twigs moderate, 

 round: pith rather small, pale, 

 continuous. Buds solitary or fre- 

 quently superposed with the upper 

 developing promptly and the lower 

 minute, with 2 nearly or quite val- 

 vate outer scales. Leaf-scars al- 

 ternate, roundish or cordate, 

 raised: bundle-trace 1: stipule- 

 scars lacking. Leaves simple. 



Though true laurel is often re- 

 placed by Ficus nitida and other 

 trees having more or less similar 

 foliage, it is not infrequent even 

 in the northern States in tubbed 

 specimens of globose or conical 

 outline that are placed out-of-doors 

 for formal effects through the open 

 season, as they are planted out 

 where they endure the winter. 



Its buds were described (p. 202) in a treatise by Loefling on 

 "Gemmae Arborum" printed in 1749, the earliest compre- 

 hensive publication of its kind. 



The Roman use of wreaths of laurel has given origin to 

 the word laureate, and, when berries or baccae were attached, 

 to the academic expression baccalaureate and the more famil- 

 iar word bachelor. 

 Glabrous: twigs brown: leaves crisped. (Sweet Bay). 



L. nobilis. 



Winter-characters of Vella spinosa, one of the Cruciferae, 

 are given by Schneider, f. 102; as well as of Capparis spinosa, 

 of the Capparidaceae, f. 84. 



