Lovorov list

Bay laurel (Laurus nobilis) is an aromatic evergreen tree or large shrub with green, glabrous leaves. It belongs to the flowering plant family Lauraceae and is native to the Mediterranean region. The tree can be as high as 20 metres. The bay laurel is dioecious, with male and female flowers on separate plants. Laurus nobilis is a widespread relict of the laurel forests that originally covered much of the Mediterranean Basin when the climate of the region was more humid. The leaves are 6-12 cm long and 2-4 cm broad, with an untoothed margin. Each flower is pale yellow-green, about 1 cm across, and borne in pairs beside a leaf. The fruit is a small, shiny black berry about 1 cm long that contains one seed.

The most abundant component of laurel essential oil is 1,8-cineole, which is also called eucalyptol. The leaves contain about 1.3% essential oils, consisting of 45% eucalyptol, 12% other terpenes, 8-12% terpinyl acetate, 3-4% sesquiterpenes and 3% methyleugenol. Other constituents named are α- and β-pinenes, phellandrene, linalool, geraniol and terpineol. In leaf oil, reported 1,8-cineole contents range from 25.7 to 63.2%, α-terpinyl acetate from traces to 27.0% and linalool from traces to 18.5%. Values recorded for 1,8-cineole in other studies include 44.97% for Turkey, 56.0% for Tunisia, 58.59% for Cyprus and 52.43% for Morocco. The eugenol and methyleugenol contents of bay laurel oils from different Mediterranean countries show considerable natural variability.

The fruit contains up to 30% fatty oils and about 1% essential oils. Fruit oil also contained 11.0% α-pinene and 7.5% β-elemene.

The president of a producers' association in Samsun, Turkey, says that Turkey meets 95 percent of the world's bay leaf needs.

The bay leaves in common culinary use come from an unrelated species, Laurus nobilis, and not from the West Indian bay tree. West Indian bay, Pimenta racemosa, is a species of the myrtle family (Myrtaceae) native to the Caribbean region and Venezuela. An essential oil is distilled from it to produce a fragrant cologne called bay rum.

Several unrelated plants are also called bay. California bay, Umbellularia californica, has leaves similar to the Mediterranean bay laurel but contains the toxin umbellulone.

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