Prunus lusitanica

Portuguese Laurel (Prunus lusitanica )

The Portuguese cherry laurel (Prunus lusitanica ) is a flowering plant in the rose family ( Rosaceae ).

Features

The Portuguese cherry laurel is an evergreen tree or shrub, the plant height 3-8, rarely to 20 meters reached. Young twigs and petioles are glabrous and dark red. The leaves are also bald, also glossy dark green drüsenlos, oblong- lanceolate, placed in two rows and notched - sawed. The flowers are arranged in reichblütigen, upright - protruding grape. The petals are whitish and 4-7 millimeters long. The fruits are black and purple ovate pointed.

The flowering time is in June.

Occurrence

The species occurs in southern France, in the Iberian Peninsula, Morocco and the Canary Islands. Their habitat is moist woods. The holdings in the Canary Islands belong to the subspecies Prunus lusitanica subsp. hixa ( Willd.) Franco and grow there in the laurel forest region.

Documents

• Ingrid and Peter Schoenfelder: Cosmos Atlas Mediterranean and Canary Islands flora. Franckh - Kosmos Verlag, Stuttgart 1994, ISBN 3-440-06223-6, p 70