Laurus

Laurus is a genus of evergreen trees belonging to the Laurel family, Lauraceae. The genus includes 2-3 species:

• L. azorica, known as Azores Laurel, or by the Portugese names Louro, Loureiro, Louro-da-terra,, and Louro-de-cheiro, is native to the laurisilva forests of the Azores and Madeira Islands.

• L. canariensis, known as Canary Laurel, is native to the laurisilva forests of the Canary Islands. It is considered by some to be a subspecies of L. azorica.

• L. nobilis, known commonly as Bay Laurel, True Laurel, Sweet Bay, Grecian Laurel, or simply Laurel, is the source of the spice Bay leaf. It was also the source of the Laurel wreath of ancient Greece. It is distributed across the northern shore of the Mediterranean Sea from Spain to Greece.

Fossils dating from before the ice ages show that species of Laurus were formerly distributed more widely around the Mediterranean and North Africa, when the climate was more humid and mild than at present. It is currently thought that the drying of the Mediterranean basin during the ice ages caused Laurus to retreat to the mildest climate refuges, including southern Spain and the Macaronesian islands. With the end of the last ice age, L. nobilis recovered some of its former range around the Mediterranean.

A recent study found that native stands classified as L. nobilis in northern Spain shared greater genetic and morphological similarity to L. azorica than to populations of L. nobilis native to France and Italy.

Reference

• Arroyo-García R.; Martínez-Zapater J.M.; Fernández Prieto J.A.; Álvarez-Arbesú R. 2001. "AFLP evaluation of genetic similarity among laurel populations" Euphytica, vol. 122, no. 1, pp. 155-164 (10).

External link

• photos of L. azorica