California Bay Laurel

Umbellularia californica subsp. var.	California Laurel, Headache Tree, California Bay Laurel
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	[[]] > Umbellularia californica var. ,

Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture

Umbellularia californica, Nutt. (Oreodaphne californica, Nees). Fig. 3883. Handsome evergreen tree, 20-30 or even 80-90 ft. high, with erect or suberect slender branches, conical outline and dense foliage: lvs. containing a highly aromatic and volatile essential oil, and burning vigorously in the campfire, even while green: fls. fragrant: drupes at first yellowish green, becoming purple when ripe. Dec. to May.—One of the most abundant and characteristic of Californian trees, common in moist places, particularly along streams in the Coast Range foothills and mountains, and attaining its greatest size in the cool fog-moistened alluvial valleys of the coast of N. Calif. and S. Ore.; it is but rarely seen in the drier interior valleys of the state. It often crowns the highest points of the coast-range hills, up to about 2,500 ft. altitude and far from the nearest spring or other visible sign of moisture, but in such cases the rock strata are nearly vertical and easily penetrated by the long roots which are able thus to reach hidden supplies of water. In such places it usually forms dense clumps or thickets of shrubs or small trees which are frequently shorn by the cutting ocean winds as though by a gardener's shears, suggesting its adaptability for clipped-hedge and windbreak work. It is used in boat-building, for jaws, bits, cleats, cross-trees, and the like. The branches are occasionally used for poles for chicken-roosts, as the strong odor pervading wood and bark as well as lvs., is said to keep away lice. The lvs. are used for flavoring soups and blancmanges but are too strong to give as agreeable flavor as those of Laurus nobilis or Prunus Laurocerasus. The tree is sometimes cult. for ornament in S. European parks and gardens. Sargent describes it as "one of the stateliest and most beautiful inhabitants of the North American forests, and no evergreen tree of temperate regions surpasses it in the beauty of its dark dense crown of lustrous foliage and in the massiveness of habit which make it one of the most striking features of the California landscape and fit it to stand in any park or garden." The above text is from the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture. It may be out of date, but still contains valuable and interesting information which can be incorporated into the remainder of the article. Click on "Collapse" in the header to hide this text.