221 LAURUS NOBILIS 



staminodes, varying in form, alternate with the perianth segments; 

 ovary ovoid, about as long as the staminodes, one-celled, with a 

 single pendulous ovule, style simple, cylindrical, a little shorter 

 than the ovary, stigma thickened, faintly 3-lobed. Fruit succu- 

 lent, ovoid, scarcely f inch long, purplish-black, smooth, pulp 

 scanty. Seed solitary, pendulous, the funicle running up one 

 side to the summit, testa chartaceous, cotyledons large, plane- 

 convex, oily, radicle small, included, superior; no endosperm. 



Habitat. The classical Bay is found wild in most parts of Asia 

 Minor and Syria; it grows also throughout the countries sur- 

 rounding the Mediterranean, and is abundant in Greece, Italy, 

 and Southern France ; it is, however, generally considered to have 

 gradually spread from the East. In this country it is a garden 

 plant, where it has been cultivated for centuries. Male trees are 

 apparently much more frequent here than female. The flowers 

 are copiously produced in early spring, and the nearly black sloe- 

 like fruit is ripe in October and November. 



The leaves vary a good deal in width and amount of crisping 

 at the edges, and five varieties are distinguished by Meissner on 

 these characters. Our figure represents them more undulated 

 than is usual. 



The name Laurel has been completely transferred from this to 

 Prunus Laurocerasus (see No. 98). The word Bay commonly 

 applied to the present tree is no doubt the same as the French 

 bale, berry, and was originally used for the fruit, now tautologi- 

 cally called " Bay -berries." 



Gren. & Godr., PL France, iii, 64; Bertoloni, PL Ital.,iv, p. 399 ; 

 Meissner, in DC. Prod., xv, 1, p. 233; LindL, PL Med., p. 340. 



Parts Used and Names. LAUEI FRUCTUS ET FOLIA ; the fruit 

 and leaves. They are not official in the British Pharmacopoeia, or 

 the Pharmacopoeia of India, or the Pharmacopoeia of the United 

 States ; but the fruits were formerly official in this country. 



1. THE FRUIT. The fruits which are commonly called Bay 

 Berries, as seen in a dried state in commerce, are oval in form, and 

 consist of a thin, brittle, blackish-brown, more or less wrinkled 

 pericarp ; enclosing a solitary, loose, firm, oval seed, which is 



