Umbellularia californica

Bay laurel

Family: Lauraceae · Type: shrub · Native

Bay laurel is a California native shrub found in northwestern California, the Cascade Range foothills, Sierra Nevada, Sutter Buttes, delta region, Coast Ranges, San Francisco Bay Area, southern California, and scattered transverse and peninsular ranges in canyons, valleys, and chaparral at elevations below 1,600 meters. Flowering from November to May, this plant produces small umbel-like clusters of pale greenish-white flowers less than 5 millimeters long. Growing up to 45 meters tall with bark ranging from green to red-brown, it develops a dense, spreading form with multiple trunks. Its leaves are shiny deep yellow-green, narrowly ovate to oblong, 3 to 10 centimeters long with minute gland dots, and have a distinctive glossy appearance. The fruit is an olive-like drupe 2 to 3 centimeters long, turning dark purple when dry.

Habitat: Common. Canyons, valleys, chaparral

Bloom period: Nov-May

Elevation: < 1600 m

Bioregions: NW, CaRF, SNF, SNH, ScV (Sutter Buttes), deltaic SnJV, CCo, SnFrB, SCoRO, SCoRI, SCo, scattered TR, PR

California counties: Humboldt, Los Angeles, Solano, Alameda, Butte, Contra Costa, Del Norte, El Dorado, Fresno, Glenn, Kern, Lake, Madera, Marin, Mariposa, Mendocino, Monterey, Napa, Nevada, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Francisco, San Luis Obispo, San Mateo, Santa Barbara, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Shasta, Siskiyou, Sonoma, Tulare, Ventura, Placer, Plumas, Trinity, Calaveras, Amador, Tuolumne, Sutter, Tehama, Colusa, Yolo, Stanislaus, Lassen, Yuba

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.