

1298 ARBORETUM AND FRUT1CETUM. PART 111. 



Pallas mentions having found it in Tauria. The exact date of its introduc- 

 tion into Britain is unknown, but it must have been previous to 1562, as it is 

 mentioned in Turner's Herbal, published in that year; and we find that, in 

 the rei<m of Elizabeth, the floors of the houses of distinguished persons were 

 strewed with bay leaves. It was formerly considered medicinal, both leaves 

 and berries being highly aromatic and stomachic j they are also astringent 

 and carminative. An infusion of them was not only considered beneficial, 

 when taken internally, but it was used for fomentations, &c. At present, the 

 principal use of the tree is as an ornamental plant, though the leaves are still 

 employed for flavouring custards, blancmange, &c. In mythology this tree is 

 celebrated as having once been Daphne, the daughter of Peneus, who, flying 

 from the embraces of Apollo, and reaching the banks of her parent stream, called 

 on the river god for aid, and was changed into a laurel. In the age of 

 Roman greatness, this tree was considered as the emblem of victory, and also 

 of clemency. The victorious generals were crowned with it in their triumphal 

 processions ; every common soldier carried a sprig of it in his hand ; and 

 even the dispatches announcing a victory were wrapped up in, and ornamented 

 with, leaves of bay. The aromatic odour of these trees was supposed by the 

 ancient Romans to have the power of dispelling contagion, and during a pes- 

 tilence the Emperor Claudius removed his court to Laurentine, so celebrated 

 for its bay trees. Theophrastus tells us that superstitious Greeks would 

 keep a bay leaf in their mouths all day, to preserve themselves from misfor- 

 tunes. The Greeks had also diviners who were called Daphnephagi, be- 

 cause they chewed bay leaves, which they pretended inspired them with the 

 spirit of prophecy. The bay was dedicated to Apollo, and the first temple 

 raised to that god at Delphi was formed of the branches of the tree. It 

 was the favourite tree of the poets : and we are told that Maia, the mother of 

 Virgil, dreamt that she was delivered of a bay tree ; and that one of these 

 trees sprang from Virgil's ashes, and is still growing over his tomb. In later 

 times it was supposed to be a safeguard against lightning ; and Madame De 

 Genlis mentions the device of the Count De Dunois, which was a bay tree, 

 with the motto " I defend the earth that bears me." It was a custom in the 

 middle ages, to place wreaths of laurel, with the berries on, on the heads of 

 those poets who had particularly distinguished themselves; hence our ex- 

 pression, poet laureate. " Students who have taken their degrees at the 

 universities are called bachelors, from the French bachelier, which is derived 

 from the Latin baccalaureus, a laurel berry. These students were not allowed 

 to marry, lest the duties of husband and father should take them from their 

 literary pursuits ; and, in time, all single men were called bachelors." (Sylva 

 Flor. t i. p. 115.) This tree is mentioned by Chaucer as the crown of the 

 Knights of the Round Table. 



Soil y Propagation, fyc. The Z/aurus nobilis requires a good free soil, and 

 k will not thrive in the open air, in a climate much colder than that of the 

 environs of London. It is generally propagated by layers ; but as the berries 

 are ripened in the south of England, and can be had in abundance from 

 France, the species is very generally increased from seeds, and the varieties 

 only raised from layers or cuttings. As an evergreen shrub, not only beau- 

 tiful in itself, but connected with many classical and interesting associations, 

 it ought to have a place in every collection. As it forms a dense conical 

 bush, when not trained to a single stem, it is well adapted for garden hedges. 

 This tree is very tenacious of life, and the root or stump of an apparently 

 dead tree will often send up suckers two years after it has appeared to 

 be dead. 



Statistics. "Latirus ndbilis in the Environs of London. There are plants upward of 20 ft. high, at 

 various places, the largest of which, that we have seen, is a plant at Syon 28ft. high, forming an 

 immense conical bush, 18 ft. in diameter at the base. The rate of growth in the neighbourhood of 

 London, as deduced from the dimensions of several young plants sent us, is about 15 ft. in height, in 



iM&rus ndbilis South of London. The largest tree of this species in England is at Margram in 

 Glamorganshire, the seat of C.P.Talbot, Esq., M.P., about 12 miles from Swansea. It is fil ft. 6 in. high, 

 ajul forms a magnificent bell-shaped bush, about GO ft. in diameter at the base. In Devonshire, 



