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LAURUS NOBILIS. 
Common Sweet - Bay 
Class Enneandria. — Order MoNOGYNlA. 
Nat. Ord. Olerace^, Linn. Lauri, Juss. 
Gen. Char. Calyx none. Corolla calyx-like, four or six- 
parted. Nectary composed of three two-bristled glands, 
surrounding the germen. Filaments iutenor, gland uliferous. 
Drupe one-seeded. 
Spec. Char. Leaves lanceolate, veined. Flowers dioecious, 
four- cleft. 
This species of Laurus is a handsome evergreen ; a native of the 
south of Europe, flowering in April and May. In Italy and Greece, 
its native soil, it rises to the height of twenty or thirty feet, forming 
a handsome tree ; but in this country it scarcely reaches half the 
height, and can only be ranked as a shrub. It was first cultivated 
in England by Turner,f in the year 1562, and is now to be met with 
in many of our gardens and shrubberies. 
The stem is much branched, and covered with a smooth bark, of 
an olive colour ; the leaves are lanceolate, smooth, veined, entire, 
often waved at the margin, of a shining green, and stand erect upon 
the branches, on short, channelled footstalks ; the flowers are male 
and female, upon different plants, and appear in clusters, three or 
four together ; there is no calyx ; the corolla is of a yellowish white 
colour, divided into four ovate leaves, which stand erect ; the 
stamens vary in number from seven to thirteen, the innermost of 
which are gland uliferous ; the style in the female flowers is very 
short ; the germen is superior, and becomes an ovate berry ; the 
seed of which is dark green, changing to deep purple or black as it 
ripens. 
* Fig. rt. represents a male flower, largely magnified. 6, The fruit, c. The seed, 
t Tarn. Herb, part ii. fol. 52. 
