A big glossy evergreen with toothed oval leaves, spikes of white flowers in spring and black cherry-like fruits, widely used as hedging
Cherry laurel — Prunus laurocerasus.
Nature · Shrubs
Cherry laurel
Neophyte · planted by early 1600s · evergreen, 4–8 m · flowers spring · hedges, woods, parks
Prunus laurocerasus — Rosaceae
Cherry laurel is the glossy evergreen of Victorian shrubberies and hedges, native to south-east Europe and western Asia, and now naturalised across Great Britain. It is neither a true laurel nor a bay: it is a cherry, whose leaves and seed kernels contain cyanide-releasing compounds. It spreads by layering and bird-sown seed and casts dense shade in woods.
How to spot them
- ▸Large, leathery, glossy dark green oval leaves to 15 cm, finely toothed and pointed, with a paler midrib
- ▸Erect spikes (racemes) of small white flowers to 12 cm in spring
- ▸Cherry-like fruits, red then shiny black, which birds eat and disperse
- ▸Forms dense hedges, screens and thickets, layering where branches touch the ground
- ▸Look-alikes: bay laurel has smaller, aromatic, untoothed leaves; Portugal laurel has red leaf-stalks and finer leaves; rhododendron has smooth-edged leaves and no fruit like this
How to know it
Despite its name it is not a true laurel, but a cherry in the rose family
Cherry laurel, in Rosaceae.
Its seed kernels are harmful if eaten, and the RHS advises gloves when handling it
Cherry laurel.
It was planted in Britain by the early seventeenth century and recorded in the wild by 1886, and it is now naturalised throughout Great Britain
Cherry laurel.
It spreads by layering from planted stock and by bird-dispersed fruit, forming dense stands that shade out woodland flowers
Cherry laurel.
The RHS lists it among potentially invasive garden plants because it can become a nuisance if unpruned
Cherry laurel.
Quick-fire facts
- •Prunus laurocerasus, family Rosaceae; laurocerasus means laurel-cherry
- •Native to south-east Europe and south-west Asia; planted in Britain by the early seventeenth century and recorded in the wild by 1886
- •Leaves up to 15 cm, glossy; white flower racemes to 12 cm; fruits red then black; grows 4 to 8 m tall (RHS)
- •Seed kernels are harmful if eaten; RHS recommends gloves and protective equipment when handling (RHS)
- •Spreads by layering and by bird-dispersed fruit to form dense stands
- •Fast growing and easily forms dense walls of foliage if not pruned; the RHS lists it among potentially invasive plants
- •Crushed leaves smell of bitter almonds, a warning of cyanogenic compounds
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Sources
- Royal Horticultural Society — Prunus laurocerasus (cherry laurel)