Cherry laurel is a medium to tall evergreen ornamental shrub species in the Rose Family that is widely used in our region as a hedge species. It has escaped and naturalized in North America in British Columbia, Oregon, Washington and California (USDA 2011). In British Columbia, it is reported in the southwestern corner of the province. It is considered invasive here, and readily seeds outside of the garden. This is a spring flowering species that produces a raceme of white flowers.
Species Information
Click on the image below to view an
expanded illustration for this species.
General: Medium to tall shrub, occasionally a small tree, 2-6 m tall; twigs green, smooth.
Leaves: Alternate, evergreen, thick and waxy, oblong, 7-20 cm long, remotely fine-toothed, usually abruptly short-pointed at the tip, short-stalked.
Flowers: Inflorescence an ascending cylindric cluster of several to many stalked flowers; corollas white, saucer-shaped, about 1 cm across, the petals 5, egg-shaped, 3-4 mm long; calyces 5-lobed, the lobes very short, 3-toothed; ovaries superior.
Fruits: Fleshy drupes with a large stone (cherries), conic, about 10-15 mm long, purplish-black; seeds 1.
