Kentucky Plant Atlas




Cultivated    No county information
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Rosaceae <Amygdaleae> Prunus <Padus> laurocerasus
Prunus laurocerasasus L.
ALI: EU HAB: n/a, n/a, n/a, n/a ABU: n/a, n/a, 0
This large evergreen European shrub has been called "cherry laurel" or "laurel cherry". It is widely cultivated in temperate regions around the World but it is almost unknown as a naturalized plant in eastern North America (K, W). Both P. laurocerasus and P. lusitanica L. ("Portugese laurel") differ from most other species of subgenus Padus as follows (FNA 9, W): leaves evergreen or tardily deciduous (versus generally deciduous); entire or serrate with widely spaced prominent sharp teeth (versus regularly and rather finely toothed); petioles lacking two glands near junction with leaf blade (versus generally with two glands); racemes leafless at base (versus leafy). The native evergreen caroliniana also lacks glands on petioles and it has two dark glands on the lower leaf surface near the base. In contrast, laurocerasus has several dark glands of this type near the base. These glands can attract ants, which can then reduce some insect herbivores (Kautz et al. 2017). Fruits (which are delicious when ripe) are not generally produced in Kentucky (or elsewhere in most of eastern North America), but they have become frequent in central Europe during recent decades, where the species has naturalized well north of its native range (Hättenschwiler & Körner 2003, Conedera et al. 2018).