Flora of North America species comparison

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Persea borbonia

red bay
Habit Trees, to 25 m.
Branches

appressed-pubescent.
Leaf

blade narrowly elliptic to widely ovate, 6-16 × 2-5 cm;

surfaces abaxially pale, glaucous, moderately pubescent when young with rusty brown, appressed hairs, glabrescent with age, adaxially green, lustrous.
Inflorescences

peduncle equal to or shorter than subtending leaf petiole, pubescent.
Drupe

(8-)10 mm diam., usually glaucous.
2n

= 24.

Persea borbonia
Phenology Flowering spring–early summer.
Habitat In hammocks, mixed hardwoods, coastal dunes, maritime forests, outer Atlantic and Gulf coastal plains, rarely in the Piedmont
Elevation 0-100 m (0-300 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; AR; FL; GA; LA; MS; NC; SC; TX
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Some Native Americans used Persea borbonia for medicinal purposes (D. E. Moerman 1986).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 3.
Parent taxa Lauraceae > Persea
Sibling taxa
P. humilis, P. palustris
Synonyms Laurus borbonia, P. littoralis, Tamala borbonia, Tamala littoralis
Name authority (Linnaeus) Sprengel: Syst. Veg. 2: 268. (1825)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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(If the plant you're looking for doesn't show up in the auto-complete list, that means it either isn't described in Flora of North America yet, or it's listed under a synonym. And please note that Flora of North America is still missing several plant families, including Fabaceae, Apiaceae, Boraginaceae, and Polemoniaceae.)

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