Laurel

Parts Usually Used

Leaves, berries, bark

Description of Plant(s) and Culture

Laurel is an evergreen bush or tree grows up to 3 feet tall (up to 50 feet if left to itself in tropical climates), the leaves are leathery, lanceolate, and pointed at both ends. Whitish flowers grow in axillary clusters during April and May, developing later into black, egg-shaped berries. Seeds are about the size of a pea and have a dark brown color. The plant is pungent and aromatic.

Other varieties: Indian Bay, also called California Bay is native to California and was formerly used by the Native Americans for flavoring food as well as for medicine. Indian Bay leaves have a flavor similar to common Bay, except that its leaves are decidedly more fragrant and have a peppery tang. Another variety of Bay, found growing in the Monterrey regions of Mexico, is better known as Boteka.

This variety has a cool, mild fragrance. Boteka is also used to make a very pleasant tea.

Where Found

Grows both wild and cultivated around the Mediterranean Sea.

Medicinal Properties

Astringent, aromatic, carminative, digestive, emetic, emmenagogue, stomachic, stimulant

Biochemical Information

Essential oil with cineol and pinene, fatty oil with lauric acid, oleic acid, palmitic and linoleic acids br>

Legends, Myths and Stories

Bay leaf or laurel leaf is aromatic and slightly bitter in flavor. Well known for its uses in seasoning of meats, stuffings, sauces, marinades, etc. Fresh or dried, use bay leaf sparingly, it is strong. One leaf or less for 6-8 servings. According to Greek and Roman myth, the nymph Daphne was changed at her own wish into a laurel tree by her father, the river god Peneus, to keep her from being attacked by the love-smitten god Apollo.

Eros (Cupid) had played a trick on the self-righteous Apollo by shooting arrows with opposite effects into him and Daphne: Apollo’s arrow stimulated love for Daphne, but hers caused her to hate Apollo. Apollo, amazed by Daphne’s transformation, made the tree sacred to himself and declared that he would wear a crown of its leaves, as would triumphant men of war. Thus associated with fame and achievement, the laurel wreath was conferred also on poets, athletes, statesmen, and other notables.

The Romans believed that a person standing under a laurel tree would be shielded from infection by the plague and also from lightning. In the Middle Ages, laurel would shield you from lightning and from witches, too.

Uses

Historically, herbalists pressed bay oil from the berries and leaves to prepare salves and liniments intended for rheumatism, palsy, convulsions, cramps, general aches, earaches, tremblings, numbness, bruises, and sprains. These topical preparations were also applied for various skin complaints, including itch, scabs, eczema, and sunburn. The fruit and leaves were traditionally viewed as digestive stimulants.

Practitioners sometimes decocted the fruit or leaves and combined them with honey or syrup into a chest paste for colds and respiratory complaints, or prepared the berries into a cough syrup. Traditional herbals recorded the use of bay berries for chronic coughs, asthma, sore throats, tonsillitis, indigestion, gas, colic, intestinal worms, and to promote urine flow. Herbalists also employed preparations of the bark for kidney stones, bladder complaints, and liver ailments.

Additionally, folk tradition utilized the leaves as an insect repellent to deter fleas, lice, moths, and pantry pests.

How Sold

Oil of bay Dried bay leaves in the spice section of the supermarket

Bibliography

, Loma Linda, CA 92354, Original copyright 1939, revised edition 1994 Country Home Book of Herbs , Meredith Books, Editorial Dept. RW240, 1716 Locust Street, Des Moines, IA 50309-3023, copyright 1994 Culpeper’s Complete Herbal & English Physician: Updated With 117 Modern Herbs , by Nicholas Culpeper, Meyerbooks, publisher, PO Box 427, Glenwood, Illinois 60425, 1990, (reprint of 1814) The Herbalist Almanac , by Clarence Meyer, Meyerbooks, publisher, PO Box 427, Glenwood, Illinois 60425, copyright 1988, fifth printing, 1994 The Herb Book , by John Lust, Bantam Books, 666 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY.

copyright 1974. , Lotus Press, PO Box 325, Twin Lakes. , Copyright 1988, published 1992 The Yoga of Herbs: An Ayurvedic Guide to Herbal Medicine , by Dr. David Frawley & Dr. Vasant Lad, Lotus Press, Twin Lakes, Wisconsin, Second edition, 1988. , 15 Columbus Circle, New York, NY 10023 The Rodale Herb Book: How to Use, Grow, and Buy Nature’s Miracle Plants (An Organic gardening and farming book) , edited by William H.

Hylton, Rodale Press, Inc. , 1974