Laurus nobilis

Small dioecious tree to 12 m high; bark blackish brown; branchlets puberulent. Leaves alternate, aromatic when crushed; petiole c. 1 cm long; leaf blade oblong or oblong-lanceolate, 5–12 cm long, 18–32 mm wide, glabrous, upper surface slightly darker than lower; apex acute or acuminate; base cuneate; margins entire, sometimes undulate. Inflorescence globose; involucral bracts suborbicular, outer surface glabrous. Perianth segments 4, broadly obovate to suborbicular; male flowers with c. 12 stamens in 3 whorls, the inner 2 whorls with glands, the outer whorl eglandular; female flowers with c. 4 staminodes. Fruit ovoid, dark purple.