Genus LAURUS, Plin 
L SS EaneandriaMonogy^. 
Synonymes. 
Laurus, Persea, Borbonia, Of Authors. 
B^^^^A^^^^^^ ^ Prai8e ' " referenCe to the anCient CU8tom f """* th8 
Generic Characters Sexes polygamous or dioecious. Calyx with 6 sepals. Stamens 9; 6 exterior 3 
interior, and each of them having a pair of gland-like bodies attached to its base. These have been 
deemed imperfect stamens. Anthers adnate ; of 2 cells in most of the species, of 4 unequal ones in 
the others ; each cell is closed by a vertical valve, that opens elastically, and often carries up the pol- 
len in a mass. Fruit a carpel that is pulpy externally, and includes 1 seed. Cotyledons eccentrically 
peltate, or, in other words, attached to the remainder of the embryo a little above the base line. Lou- 
don, Arboretum. 
\HK genus Laurus has been divided by modern botanists, and sev- 
eral genera formed out of it ; but, for the sake of brevity, and the 
convenience of classification, we have retained the Linnsean names 
in all the species which we have noticed. There are only three 
perfectly hardy kinds, namely, Laurus nobilis, sassafras aiid ben- 
zoin ; but there are several species that will live in the open air in 
mild climates, or with little protection, which are well worthy of cultivation. 
The Laurus benzoin, (spice bush,) is a beautiful deciduous shrub, a native from 
Virginia to Canada, growing from three to twelve feet in height, and is readily 
distinguished by its highly pungent and aromatic bark, which is regarded as a 
stimulant and tonic, and is extensively used in the regions where it abounds, in 
the cure of intermittent fevers; and hence, is sometimes called fever bush. The 
Laurus cinnamomum and cassia, which are natives of Ceylon, Malabar, Cochin- 
China, Sumatra, &c, and which are cultivated in India, Mauritius, Jamaica. 
Brazil, and other places, produce the cinnamon and cassia of commerce. What 
are called cassia buds, are not obtained from the Laurus cassia, but are the hexan- 
gular, fleshy receptacles of the seeds of the true cinnamon-tree. Cassia bark 
and buds are used for the same purposes as cinnamon bark, but they are consid- 
ered as inferior in value, on account of containing a greater proportion of muci- 
lage. From the present genus we also derive a portion of the camphor of com- 
merce, which is the product of the Laurus camphora, hereafter considered. The 
Laurus indica is indigenous to Madeira and the Canary Islands, the wood of 
which is highly esteemed in cabinet-making. It can hardly be distinguish.. 1 
from mahogany, except that it is somewhat less brown in its colour. Hence it 
is imported into England under the name of Madeira mahogany. 
To the same natural order belong the California bay-tree, (Drimophyllum pau- 
cifiorum,) and the Californian umbellularia, (Umbellulana calilorni.a.) both ele- 
gant evergreen trees, natives of Upper California, the former growing to a height 
of twenty or thirty feet, and the latter from forty to one hundred and twenty feet, 
with a trunk from two to four feet in diameter. Its foliage, according to Mr. 
Nuttall, gives out, when bruised, a most powerful camphorated odour, which, 
from its pungency, is capable of exciting sneezing. "The volatile oil," observes 
the same writer, "obtained from some species of Laurus found in the vast forests 
between the Oronoko and the Parime, is produced in great abundance by merely 
making an incision into the bark with an axe, as deep as the liber or young wood 
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