Young shoots densely downy. Leaves hairy below, at least when young, same smell as Common Bay when crushed. Fruit black, ovoid. The distinguishing character of broadly lanceolate leaves sometimes used to separate the two Laurus species is not clear in trees cultivated in se Australia where the Common Bay displays a range of shapes from narrow-lanceolate to almost round.
An important remnant of the laurel rainforest that once clothed western Europe.
Probably more widely cultivated than is generally realised owing to similarity to the Common Bay with which it may be easily confused.
Azores, Canary Islands
Shoots distinctly downy.
VIC: Mt Macedon ('Alton', 17 m tall in 1984); Narbethong (St Fillan Farm, 12.5 m in 1994).
Source: (1997). Lauraceae. In: . Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 2. Flowering plants. Dicotyledons. Part 1. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.
