Umbellularia

	Email		Print
	Bookmark		Link

Umbellularia

Umbellularia californica is a tree

TREE

TREE was a Boston hardcore punk band formed in the summer of 1990. They were active in the Boston music scene until disbanding in 2002....
native to coastal forests of western North America

North America

North America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and almost totally in the western hemisphere....
. Its pungent leaves have a similar flavor to bay leaves

Bay leaf

Bay leaf , Greek Daphni, Romanian Dafin, Portuguese Louro; is the aromatic leaf of several species of the Laurel family . Fresh or dried bay leaves are used in cooking for their distinctive flavor and fragrance....
(though stronger), and it may be mistaken for Bay Laurel

Bay Laurel

Oregon

Oregon is a U.S. state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. The area was inhabited by many indigenous tribes before the arrival of traders, explorers and settlers....
, this tree is known as Oregon Myrtle, while in California

California

California is a U.S. state on the West Coast of the United States of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. It is bordered by Oregon to the north, Nevada to the east, Arizona to the southeast, and to the south the Mexico state of Baja California....
it is called California Bay Laurel, which may be shortened to California Bay or California Laurel. It has also been called Pepperwood and Headache Tree.

It is the sole species in the genus Umbellularia.

Discussion

Ask a question about 'Umbellularia'

Start a new discussion about 'Umbellularia'

Answer questions from other users

Full Discussion Forum

Encyclopedia

Umbellularia californica is a tree

TREE

TREE was a Boston hardcore punk band formed in the summer of 1990. They were active in the Boston music scene until disbanding in 2002....
native to coastal forests of western North America

North America

Bay leaf

Bay Laurel

Oregon

California

Douglas County, Oregon

Douglas County is a List of counties in Oregon located in the U.S. state of Oregon. In 2000, its population was 100,399. Oregon Geographic Names after Stephen A....
south through California

California

San Diego County, California

San Diego County is a county located near the Pacific Ocean in the far southwest of the U.S. state of California. The state of California estimates San Diego County's population as of 2008 to be 3,146,274 people, making it the second most populous county in California, ahead of its northwestern neighbor Orange County, California....
. It is also found in the western foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains. It occurs at altitudes from sea level up to 1600 m.

It is an evergreen

Evergreen

In botany, an evergreen plant is a plant having leaf all year round. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which completely lose their foliage for part of the year....
tree growing to 30 m tall (exceptionally 45 m) with a trunk up to 80 cm thick. The leaves

Leaf

In botany, a leaf is an above-ground plant Organ specialized for photosynthesis. For this purpose, a leaf is typically flat and thin, to expose the cells containing chloroplast to light over a broad area, and to allow light to penetrate fully into the tissues....
are smooth-edged and lens shaped, 3–10 cm long and 1.5–3 cm broad, similar to the related Bay Laurel

Bay Laurel

Flower

A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproduction structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to mediate the union of male sperm with female ovum in order to produce seeds....
s are small, yellow or yellowish-green, produced in a small umbel

Umbel

An umbel is an inflorescence which consists of a number of short flower stalks which are equal in length and spread from a common point, somewhat like umbrella ribs....
(hence the scientific name Umbellularia, "little umbel"). The fruit

Fruit

The term fruit has different meanings dependent on context, and the term is not synonymous in food preparation and biology. In botany, which is the scientific study of plants, fruits are the ripened Ovary of flowering plants....
is a round and green berry

Berry

In everyday English, a berry is a broad term for any small edible fruit. Most berries are juicy, round or semi-oblong, brightly coloured, sweet or sour, and don't have a stone or pit....
2–2.5 cm long and 2 cm broad, lightly spotted with yellow, maturing purple. It consists of a fleshy covering over a single hard, thin-shelled seed. The California Bay is the primary foliar host for Sudden Oak Death

Sudden oak death

Sudden Oak Death is the common name of a disease caused by the oomycete plant pathogen Phytophthora ramorum. The disease kills oak and other species of tree and has had devastating effects on the oak populations in California and Oregon as well as also being present in Europe....
(SOD).

Uses

The leaf was used by western U.S Native Americans as a cure for headache, toothache, and earache—though the volatile oils in the leaves may also cause headaches when used in excess. Native Americans also ate the ripe fruits. The leaf is sometimes used in cooking, but is much stronger than the more commercially available Bay Laurel

Bay Laurel

The Bay Laurel , also known as True Laurel, Sweet Bay, Grecian Laurel, Laurel, or Bay Tree, is an aromatic evergreen tree or large shrub reaching 10?18 m tall, native to the Mediterranean region....
leaf.

Other sources indicate it is used in woodworking. The wood is very hard and fine, and is made into bowls, spoons, and other small items and sold as "myrtlewood". It is also grown as an ornamental tree, both in its native area, and elsewhere further north up the Pacific coast to Vancouver in Canada

Canada

Canada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean....
, and in western Europe

Europe

Europe is, conventionally, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural , the Caspian Sea, and by the Caucasus Mountains to the southeast....
.

Pathology

California Bay Laurel is an important host of Sudden oak death

Sudden oak death

Tanoak

Lithocarpus densiflorus, commonly known as the Tanoak or Tanbark-oak, is an evergreen tree in the beech family Fagaceae, native to the western United States, in California as far south as the Transverse Ranges and north to southwest Oregon....
s, which are also vulnerable to the disease.

External links

: Umbellularia - Umbellularia californica (California Bay Laurel)