Prunus lusitanica L.
Padus lusitanica (L.) Mill., Cerasus lusitanica (L.) Dum. Cours., Laurocerasus lusitanica (L.) M. Roem.
Eng.: Portuguese laurel. Spa.: Loro. Fre.: Laurier du Portugal.
Small tree, evergreen, hermaphrodite, up to 8(10) m in height, irregular in shape but ± broadly ovoid, with extended branches and dense foliage. Trunk usually well defined, with greyish bark, fissured and very dark in older specimens. Young branchlets glabrous, green or sometimes reddish. Leaves (7-15 × 2.5-5 cm) alternate, ovate-lanceolate or lanceolate, obtuse, slightly acuminate, with rounded or slightly attenuated base, serrate margin with teeth sometimes inconspicuous and spaced, coriaceous, glabrous, intense dark green with white marks on the upper side and slightly paler on the underside. Inflorescence in long racemes (up to 28 cm), dense [with 30-80(100) flowers], upright or pendant, axillary, longer than the leaf, without small leaves at the base. Flowers small, 8-12 mm in diameter, with glabrous pedicels about 5 mm long. Calyx with 5 green sepals, triangular-suborbicular, very small (0.8-1.2 mm long). Corolla with 5 white petals, oval-suborbicular, 3-5 mm long. Stamens numerous (about 20) with white or pinkish filaments and yellow anthers. Fruit an ovoid ± acute drupe, often apiculate, 8-13 mm long, glabrous, first green, then red and finally black. Seed ovoid, not compressed, with smooth surface.
Flowering:
May to July.
Fruiting:
September to November.
Habitat:
Humid forests with very short summer drought, often along waterways. Mountains with sheltered areas that enable a similar microclimate to that of the Mediterranean during the Tertiary. In humid to hyperhumid bioclimate, sometimes in subhumid bioclimate, but then along rivers and streams or sheltered special microclimates, on mesomediterranean to supramediterranean floors.
Distribution:
Western end of the Mediterranean and Macaronesian islands. In Morocco there are a few small forests in the siliceous central and western Rif, plus a few isolated stands in the Tazekka Massif (in Bab Ahzar) and in Jebel Tirardine (Aguni river valley, in the High Atlas).
Conservation status:
Rare species and with a small distribution area. Currently, it has not been assessed at a global level in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
