Prunus laurocerasus
Poisonous plant
Environmental Weed (2024)
Common names
cherry laurel
Biostatus
Exotic
Category
Vascular
Structural class
Trees & Shrubs - Dicotyledons
Flower colours
White
Detailed description
Evergreen, wide, spreading shrub or tree, to 10 m tall. The leaves are thick, oval to lance-shaped, with a slightly serrated margin, and are 10-15 cm long. Leaves occur alternately, on short, thick stalks, and have glandular depressions and hairs near the base. The upper surface is dark green, smooth and shining with obvious lighter green veins, the underside of the leaf is paler and less shining. Flowers are small (2-5 mm) and white, with five petals. They grow in bunches of 20-30. Flowering is from Aug-Sept. The fruit resembles black cherries, but grows in clusters like grapes. It is bird dispersed. Fruiting is from Nov-Jan.
Similar taxa
Evergreen, widespreading shrub or tree up to 10m high; leaves 90-150mm long x 30-50mm wide; leaves shining above with prominent paler veins, less shining below; flower stalks 100-120mm long with 20-30 flowers; 5 petals, greenish white to cream; fruit about 10mm long, ovoid, dark purple, smooth (Webb et al., 1988).
Habitat
Terrestrial. High rainfall or otherwise saturated soils (C. Ogle, pers. comm.). Found in plantations, around shelterbelts, roadsides, wastelands and in lowland areas (Webb et al., 1988). Relics of cultivation are very common in settled areas especially around old homesteads, domains and parks (Webb et al., 1988). Riverine forest (C. Ogle, pers. comm.). On an alluvial terraca (J. Barkle, pers. comm.).
Conservation status
Not applicable
Detailed taxonomy
Family
Ecology
Flowering
August, September
Fruiting
November, December, January
Year naturalised
1958
Origin
SE Europe
Reason for introduction
Ornamental
Life cycle and dispersal
Perennial. Fruit probably eaten and spread by kereru (C. Ogle, pers. comm.).
Other information
Poisonous plant
The kernels of the black fruit are poisonous if eaten.
Environmental Weed (2024)
This plant is named in a list of 386 environmental weeds in New Zealand 2024 prepared by DOC. 759 candidate species were considered for inclusion on this new comprehensive list of environmental weeds in New Zealand. The species considered were drawn from published lists of weed species, lists of plants that must be reported or managed by law if observed, existing national and regional programmes and agreements for pest management, and species already managed by the Department of Conservation (DOC). Candidate species were then assessed to see if they were fully naturalised and whether they have more than minor impacts in natural ecosystems. Read the full report here.
NVS code
The National Vegetation Survey (NVS) Databank is a physical archive and electronic databank containing records of over 94,000 vegetation survey plots - including data from over 19,000 permanent plots. NVS maintains a standard set of species code abbreviations that correspond to standard scientific plant names from the Ngä Tipu o Aotearoa - New Zealand Plants database.
PRULAU