Prunus laurocerasus, Cherry laurel

Cherry laurel is an evergreen cherry species which grows up to 8 m in height. It can either be shrub or

 small spreading tree.

This Cherry laurel is growing on the Fallowfield Loop. It is very hardly reachable and located on a steep and shady slope. The soil was well moist but not damp.

The shrub has dark greyish brown bark, pitted with numerous lenticels. It has dense branches with smooth pale green twigs. The leaves are leathery up to 20cm long and 6cm wide, oblong with short pointed tips and rounded or tapering base.

It has fragrant white flowers about 13cm long. Its fruits are rounded, green at first, then turning red and finally blackish purple. It colonises through self-seeding.