Cherry laurel

Prunus laurocerasus is an evergreen shrub or small to medium-sized tree, growing to 5 to 15 metres (16 to 49 ft) tall, rarely to 18 metres (59 ft), with a trunk up to 60 cm broad. The leaves are dark green, leathery, shiny, (5–)10–25(–30) cm long and 4–10 cm broad, with a finely serrated margin. The leaves can have the scent of almonds when crushed. The flower buds appear in early spring and open in early summer in erect 7–15 cm racemes of 30–40 flowers, each flower 1 cm across, with five creamy-white petals and numerous yellowish stamens with a sweet smell. The fruit is a small cherry 1–2 cm broad, turning black when ripe in early autumn.

The species is found in woods and in shrubbery places as an escape in Northern Ireland and commonly planted in parks and gardens. The species that are mainly found in Turkey's Eastern Black Sea Region (mainly Trabzon and Giresun) are categorized as endemic plants.

The foliage is also used for cut greenery in floristry.

The fruits are astringent but edible. They contain small amounts of hydrogen cyanide; any fruit tasting bitter (which indicates larger concentrations of hydrogen cyanide) should not be eaten. The seed inside the fruit (and the leaves) contain larger concentrations of hydrogen cyanide, and should never be eaten. The toxicity of the seed inside the fruit is similar to the cyanide toxicity of the seeds inside the common fruits apricot and peach.

Prunus laurocerasus is a widely cultivated ornamental plant, used for planting in gardens and parks in temperate regions worldwide. It is often used for hedges, as a screening plant, and as a massed landscape plant. Most cultivars are tough shrubs that can cope with difficult growing conditions, including shaded and dry conditions, and which respond well to pruning.

Cultivars. Over 40 cultivars have been selected, including

'Aureovariegata', variegated, leaves with a yellow margin 'Magnifolia', vigorous, with great leaves up to 30-cm wide and 11-cm broad 'Otto Luyken' (named after Otto Luyken), half-dwarf, with small leaves 10-cm wide and 2–3-cm broad 'Schipkaensis' 'Zabeliana', selected for winter cold tolerance The cultivar 'Otto Luyken' has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.