Cherry laurel

The cherry laurel, sometimes called the common laurel, is a shrub or small tree of the genus Prunus, botanic name Prunus laurocerasus. It is native to western Asia and eastern Europe, but has been widely planted as an ornamental garden shrub all over the world. It is naturalised widely in cooler temperate latitudes.

The leaves are dark green, leathery, shiny and may be used for cut foliage. The flowers bud in April in the northern hemisphere, and appear in erect racemes of small white flowers. The fruits are small red (inedible) cherries, turning black as they ripen.

It is often used for screening, and also as a mass landscape and ground cover plant. Most forms are tough, evergreen, ornamental shrubs that can cope with difficult growing conditions (including shaded and dry conditions), and which respond well to pruning. Many cultivated forms exist.

It is often called laurel because of the similarity of foliage and appearance to the true laurel, Laurus nobilis. However, they are not related.

The leaves produce a small amount of a highly toxic gas: hydrogen cyanide.