LAURACEiE.
5
long, with thin lobes ciliate on the margins; the lobes of the outer series are broadly ovate, roundedand minutely apiculate at the apex, puberulous on both surfaces, and about half as long as thoseof the inner series, which are oblong-lanceolate, acute, and coated on the inner surface with longpale hairs. The stamens are about as long as the inner lobes of the calyx, with flattened hairy fila-ments and rather shorter yellow anthers, which are all four-celled and fertile in the three outer series,the filaments of the third series being furnished at the base with two nearly sessile orange-coloredglands rounded on the back and slightly two-lobed on the inner face; the staminodia to which thestamens of the inner series are reduced are raised on short broad stalks, and are incurved and two-lobed on the inner face and furnished at the apex with tufts of pale hairs. The ovary is ovate,glabrous, and abruptly contracted into a slender glabrous slightly exserted style thickened toward theapex, which is crowned with a flat obscurely two-lobed stigma. The fruit, which ripens in the autumn,is oblong-obovate or subglobose, half an inch long, dark blue or nearly black, and very lustrous; it isborne on the somewhat thickened pedicel, and is surrounded at the base by the enlarged and spreadinglobes of the calyx, from which it separates in falling, and which remains on the branch until after thebeginning of winter; the flesh is thin and dry and does not separate readily from the large ovateslightly pointed seed. The seed-coat consists of two layers; the outer is thin and cartilaginous,grayish brown on the outer surface, bright chestnut-brown and lustrous on the inner surface, which ismarked by broad yellow veins radiating from the minute hilum, and is separable from the inner coat;this is membranaceous, very thin and light gray or nearly white, and closely invests and often adheresto the thick dark red-brown cotyledons which inclose at the apex the minute plumule.
Persea Borbonia is a common inhabitant of the borders of streams and swamps, where, in companywith the Live Oak, the Water Oak, the Spanish Oak, the Cuban Pine, and the Hickories, it usuallygrows in rich moist soil; or occasionally it is found in dry sandy loam in the shade of forests of theLong-leaved Pine. The Red Bay is distributed through the coast regions of the south Atlantic andGulf states from Virginia to the shores of Bay Biscayne and Cape Romano in Florida and to the valleyof the Brazos River in Texas , and west of the Mississippi River extends northward through Louisiana to southern Arkansas . 1
The wood of Persea Borbonia is heavy, hard, very strong although rather brittle, close-grained,and susceptible of receiving a beautiful polish; it contains numerous thin medullary rays and manyevenly distributed open ducts, and is bright red, with thin lighter colored sapwood composed of four orfive layers of annual growth. The specific gravity of the absolutely dry wood is 0.6429, a cubic footweighing 40.07 pounds. It is occasionally used for cabinet-making and in the interior finish ofhouses, for which its strength, hardness, and bright color make it valuable. Formerly it was employedin ship and boat building.
The Red Bay was first described in the Natural History of Carolina 2 by Mark Catesby , 3 whoprobably introduced it into English gardens, as it was cultivated by Philip Miller 4 as early as 1739 inthe Physic Garden at Chelsea near London . 5
Although it is one of the most beautiful and valuable of the evergreen trees of the North Americanforests, the Red Bay has been neglected as an ornament for parks and gardens, and is now rarely seenin cultivation.
1 Traces of Laurus Borbonia found in the sandstone of southern baccatis, Linnaeus , Hort. Cliff. 154. — Royen, FI. Loyd. Prodr.New Jersey show that this species once lived farther north than it 226.
does at present (Hallock, Bull. Torrey Bot. Club, xix. 332). 8 See vi. 16.
2 Laurus Carolinensis, foliis acuminatis, baccis cceruleis, pediculis 4 See i. 38.
longis rubris, insidentibus, i. 63, t. 63. 6 Aiton, Hort. Kew. ii. 39 (Laurus). — Loudon, Arb. Brit. iii.
Laurus foliis lanceolatis, nervis transversalibus, fructus calycibus 1299, f. 1168, 1169 (Laurus).