Phil Bendle Collection:Prunoideae laurocerasus (Laurel Tree))

Division:Magnoliophyta 
Class:Magnoliopsida 
Order:Rosales 
Family:Rosaceae 
Subfamily:Prunoideae or Spiraeoideae 
Genus:Prunus 
Subgenus:Cerasus
Species:Prunoideae laurocerasus
Common name: Cherry laurel,

Prunus laurocerasus is a species in the genus Prunus, native to regions bordering the Black Sea in south-western Asia and south-eastern Europe, from Albania and Bulgaria east through Turkey to the Caucasus Mountains and northern Iran. Leaves It is an evergreen shrub or small tree, growing to 5–15-m tall, rarely to 18-m tall, with a trunk up to 60-cm broad. The leaves are dark green, leathery, shiny, 4–10-cm broad, with a finely serrated margin. 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 broad, with five creamy-white petals and numerous yellowish stamens. The fruit is a small cherry 1–2-cm broad, turning black when ripe in early autumn. The common name "cherry laurel" refers to the similarity of foliage and appearance to the true laurel, Laurus nobilis (Lauraceae). However, the two plants are in different families and are unrelated.

Position Lat 39 3' 25.1" S  Long 174 5' 36.3E  Datum WGS 84

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