The many varieties of the laurel family
The botanical relatives of real bay laurel and cherry laurel include around 50 genera worldwide with almost 2500 different species. Many of them are native to tropical areas, and the well-known representatives of the laurel family include real laurel and cinnamon due to their use in the kitchen in this country. Economically significant products made from plant components and fruits of laurel plants are:
- Avocados
- Cinnamon bark
- Sassafras oil
- Rosewood oil
- Camphor
also read
- Real laurel - overwinter and care
- Simply grow laurel for the kitchen on the balcony
- The laurel leaves brown - what to do?
The real laurel as a spice and garden plant
In the Mediterranean area, real bay laurel occurs in the wild, which is why it has been integrated in the form of leaves in Italian and Greek cuisine for thousands of years. The real laurel is also mentioned in Greek mythology, for example Daphne turns into a laurel tree while fleeing from Apollo. Due to its great importance as a herb and medicinal plant, the real laurel has the sounding Latin name Laurus nobilis. In the Mediterranean area, it can reach heights of tree size of up to 10 meters. In this country, such a height can usually not be reached, because the real laurel due to its sensitivity to frost is mostly only as
Potted plantoverwintered can be. The plant bears small green-yellow flowers from which blue-black shiny berries form.The cherry laurel as a garden plant
The so-called cherry laurel is actually called laurel cherry and is botanically not directly related to the real laurel. The leaves of this plant cannot be used in the kitchen as with real bay laurel harvested but it is in most of Central Europe Locations hardy. This property has become more widespread than the cherry laurel Hedge plant helped. The plants do not shed their leaves in winter and thus offer an ideal privacy screen for the garden all year round.
Tips & Tricks
Although the varieties are not related to each other, common laurel and cherry laurel can easily be confused with one another by laypeople. However, real laurel has a more upright and less branched growth, its leaves are narrower and less shiny than those of cherry laurel.
