THE LAUREL FAMILY 



LAURACE^ Lindley 



OMPOSED wholly of trees and shrubs, most of them evergreen, this 

 family has the genus Laurus, the true laurel for its type, containing 

 two species, natives of the Mediterranean region, and not to be con- 

 founded with the many other evergreen shrubs and trees of other 

 families popularly known as laurels. The Lauracese include some 40 genera and 

 between 900 and 1000 species, widely distributed in warm and tropical regions, a 

 few only in the temperate zones. 



They nearly all have alternate thick leaves, usually entire-margined (Sassafras 

 is an exception, having both entire-margined and lobed leaves). The flowers are 

 small and variously clustered, perfect or imperfect, regular; the calyx is 4-lobed to 

 6-lobed; there is no corolla; the stamens are in three or four series of 3 each, borne 

 on the calyx, some of them often sterile (staminodes), and their anthers open by 

 valves to discharge the pollen; the ovary is free from the calyx, i-celled, containing 

 only I ovule; the style is usually short, tipped by a small stigma. The fruit is 

 plum-Hke, one-seeded. 



The aromatic nature of most members of this family renders them especially 

 valuable as spices and stimulants, and a great many of them are locally so em- 

 ployed, especially in the tropics. A few, however, are poisonous and most all of 

 them are ornamental. The Royal bay, Laurus nobilis Linnaeus, of the Mediter- 

 ranean region, has been employed for ages as an emblem of victory, and is 

 largely used in warmer climates for ornament and shade, on account of its dense 

 head of bright evergreen foHage; it is also used for ornament in cooler regions, 

 where it is grown in large tubs and afforded protection in winter; its leaves and 

 fruits are sometimes used for medicine and as a flavoring agent. Among the 

 better known and more universally used products of the family, however, is Cinna- 

 mon, of which there are several kinds, generally named after the locaHty from which 

 they come; it is the bark of several species of Cinnamomum, natives of the 

 East Indies; the buds are also used under the name of Cassia buds. Camphor is 

 a volatile substance obtained by distillation of the wood or twigs of Cinnamomum 

 Camphora (Linnaeus) Nees and Ebermair, a tree of Japan and Formosa; this tree 

 is also planted for shade in southern CaHfomia and the Gulf States. Another 

 drug of great interest is Coto bark, of which there are two varieties, known as 

 Veris coto and Para coto, the first being considered the best, but is almost unob- 

 tainable; both come from South America, but neither their botanical identity nor 

 the trees from which they are secured arc yet known; they are valuable sto- 

 machic remedies and have been lauded as specifics for Asiatic cholera. 



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