Laurus nobilis Sweet bay, Grecian laurel

Laurus nobilis. From An Illustrated Manual of Pacific Coast Trees, Howard E. McMinn & Evelyn Maino

The laurel wreath used to be given to successful poets at the Pythian games that were held in ancient Greece in honor of Apollo, and later Roman generals liked to be crowned with laurel, and the leaves themselves are still worked into designs connected with the Olympic games. We still recognize “laureates” today. In Greek, the word for laurel is daphne, which was also the name of a nymph, and this is how it came about. One time Apollo saw Daphne going by and chased after her, but the resourceful nymph, whose father was a river-god, got Dad to change her into a tree. Evidently she preferred this. At that time, Apollo used to keep the hair out of his eyes with a headband made of any kind of greenery, but after the striking experience of her skin turning to bark as he got his hands on her, he switched exclusively to garlands from the new tree remarking, “Well, since you can’t be my wife you can certainly be my tree.” In any case, by the time of Pliny (23–79 AD), according to his Natural History, the laurel was still dedicated to Apollo.

The leaves, which need scrubbing, have a fragrance that they retain when dried and are used in flavoring soups and stews. Eating laurel leaves, Roman authors said, enabled one to foresee the future. California laurel, Umbellularia californica, is used for cooking too, and may be sold in packages labeled simply Bay Leaves, but a whole leaf is too much. Laurel has small yellowish flowers followed by ½-inch black berries.

Specimens can be seen on Santa Teresa Street, three each at the northeast and northwest corners of Lagunita Court dormitory. A specimen with six trunks is on the southeast side of the Angel of Grief (northeast of the Mausoleum). Several plants of a dwarf selection once grew near the intersection of Lasuen Mall and Jane Stanford Way, at the corner of Dohrmann Grove, alongside the Pittosporum undulatum that still remains. They were in bloom February 2005.

Laurus ‘Saratoga’ is a hybrid with another laurel species; about 20 are between Lantana and Castaño halls, in two rows on the west side, with several more between them and the Caspar Dining Commons. A more recent row is on Crothers Way at the Traitel Building.