California bay laurel

Photo: Public domain · source

Survives zone 7 through 9

Harvest calendar

Ripens: Fruit in autumn

Best planted in early spring after your last frost, or in fall before the ground freezes, depending on your climate.

The leaf is a stronger, more pungent stand-in for bay laurel (Laurus nobilis) — use less of it. Roasted seeds can be ground into a bitter flour once the raw bitterness is cooked out; the USDA specifically flags caution with any part of this tree as food or medicine given its strong volatile-oil content, so use sparingly and know what you're working with before eating it.

Hardiness

Zone 7–9

Habit

Tree

Edible part

Leaf, Seed

Ripens

Fruit in autumn

Mature size

Slow-growing to 15–25 m in the open; often smaller in cultivation

Light

Full sun to part shade

Soil pH

5.5–7.0

Environment

Mediterranean-type coastal woodland

Native range

Pacific coastal Oregon and California, from the Umpqua River valley south beyond San Diego County — mixed coastal woodland, tolerant of clay and serpentine soils.

Status

Both wild and cultivated

Years to fruit

5–8 yrs

Growth speed

Slow

Spacing

700 cm (276 in) apart — about 49 m² (527 sq ft) per plant

Leaf shape

Narrow, glossy, dark green, intensely aromatic when crushed

Root system

A deep taproot with wide laterals, and a strong burl at the base from which the tree resprouts vigorously after fire or cutting — the reason California bay persists in chaparral and the reason a felled tree comes back as a multi-stemmed clump.

Fruit description

Round, olive-like drupe ripening from green to purple, single large seed

Propagation

Seed, or semi-hardwood cuttings — slow-growing and patience is needed either way.

Pollination

Insect-pollinated, with perfect (hermaphrodite) flowers, so a single tree sets fruit — unlike the dioecious Lindera and Sassafras it sits beside in this family. The crop is the leaf in any case.

The edible parts listed above are a starting point, not a field guide. Identify a plant with certainty — ideally against a local authority — before eating any part of it, and read the full disclaimer. Spotted something wrong? Report it.