Laurel is an aromatic plant belonging to the Lauraceae family, quite widespread in temperate climate zones.
It presents a shrub of various sizes but a proper tree can be up to 10 m high. It is a perennial plant. Laurel is a dioecious plant with male and female flowers on separate individuals. The unisexuality is due to evolutionary phenomena abortion from initially complete flowers.
Spread along the northern coastal areas of the Mediterranean Sea, it is located in large areas of the province of Salerno.
Laurel is a rustic plant, it grows well in all soils and can be grown in any garden. The multiplication can be done by seeds, pollination or by cuttings.
It's a plant rich in oils both in the leaves (1 to 3%) as in the berries (1 to 10%) such as geraniol, cineol, eugenol, terpineol, phellandrene, eucalyptol, pinene, etc.
In Greek-Roman mythology, laurel was a sacred plant and symbolized wisdom and glory: a laurel wreath encircling the forehead of the winners in the Pythian or Delphic Games and was the highest honour for a poet who became a poet laureate. Therefore its figurative meaning is the symbol of victory, the fame, the triumph and honour. It was also considered a holy tree since it was the tree of the god Apollo.
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Notes
Sandro Pignatti, Flora d'Italia, Bologna, Edagricole, 1982