Portuguese laurel: the ancestral tree of Iberia

As the scientific name Prunus Lusitanica suggests, this is a plum tree and has left a positive mark over the ages in botany, history, and medicine books all over the Iberian Peninsula. Learn more here.

Its flowers, lined up along smooth, greyish branches, sway in a windy zigzag, delighting us for their ability to balance with the skill of the most fearless.

The Portuguese laurel, with several layers, is a transformative species that adapts to the passage of time as the seasons change.

Of the phanerophyte type, the Portuguese laurel comes from a long line of noble trees. In fact, it has several historical names and attributes: known as Portuguese laurel cherry or Portuguese laurel, it usually reaches up to 10 meters in height but can, if grown from scratch and pampered by planters, reach 20 meters.

An odourless flower

The latter, in turn, erupt like tiny shimmering popcorn during spring, suspended on a leafless peduncle that rarely exceeds 100 flowers per bunch.

It’s a hermaphrodite tree, with male organs, known as stamens, and female organs, known as carpels. This feature allows it to self-fertilise.

The aforementioned black fruit has a maturation process like the blinking and multicoloured lights of a Christmas tree: in the emergence phase, they are green. Throughout this process, they turn orange, then red, purple and finally dark, a colour that hints also at the beginning of autumn.

Planted right by the Iberian sea

As the scientific name Prunus Lusitanica suggests, this is a plum tree and has left a positive mark over the ages in botany, history, and medical books across the Iberian Peninsula, more specifically, in the Lusitania region, where most of the Portuguese territory is currently located.

If the Portuguese laurel could speak, it could, through “floral” tradition, tell part of the history of the peoples living adjacent to the Atlantic. A surviving species of the last European ice age, it became a millennial figure, extending to the islands of the Azores, Madeira, and later to Morocco, Spain and France.

With a sparkle in our eyes, we can speculate that, on a beautiful autumn afternoon in a small village in Lusitania, we came across young Viriathus leaning under the shadow of a Portugal laurel. And as he muttered an unfamiliar pagan tune, the berries hanging over his head echoed a lullaby before a short nap.

He would know, of course, that its fruits could only be ingested in modest amounts. Moderate intake of these berries improves the digestive system and provides a pleasant sense of well-being. However, due to the cyanogenic glycoside compounds that produce hydrogen cyanide, these plums, when ingested in excess, are toxic to humans and cause respiratory arrest or even death.

Oddly enough, the berries of the Portuguese laurel are bactericidal, fungicidal and emetic, that is, capable of inducing vomiting. Records state that the bark was used to treat reptile bites – such as snakes or vipers – on sheep, cows and other livestock.

Indeed, the ancient peoples of this region could find this fruitful delicacy easily. Today, it flourishes in mainland Portugal in the regions of Minho, Trás-os-Montes, Beira Litoral and Beira Baixa.

And now, in plain language – this species prefers dark and moist environments and occurs in oak forests, sometimes along assorted watercourses, ravines and thalwegs and can grow in acidic, fertile, well-drained or moist soils.

Its long history of survival grants this tree the ability to tolerate cold, drought and even continental and sea winds, given its firm and leathery foliage.

Nature muses

Nature forms an idyllic scenery with an unparalleled aesthetic notion. From this perspective, the Portuguese laurel is certainly one of its favourite “colours”. The way this tree of small flowers and leaves fills the fields and enhances the surrounding picture of fauna and flora is truly unique.

Its presence is like a natural muse, stimulating the creation of microclimates and playing an important role in sustaining several ecosystems.

But unfortunately, Portuguese laurel, like dry “ink”, also vanishes. There are approximately 58,497 tree species on our planet, 30% of which are at risk of disappearing, and about 17,000 are endangered, as referenced on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List. Half of these are endemic, with an estimated 50 per endangered species.

In Portugal, there are about 100 native tree species, of which eight are under threat. The Portuguese laurel is, unfortunately, a protagonist of such a dangerous decline.

This situation is extremely alarming as nature, animals and humans need trees to preserve ecosystems and ensure the proper functioning of evapotranspiration, the retention of carbon dioxide in the roots and the purification of the air on the planet.

Did you know that…

• The genus name, Geranium, derives from the Greek geranos, which means “crane”, due to the fruit’s resemblance to this bird’s beak. The epithet robertianum may come from rupertianum, as in Saint Robert, or to ruber, red, due to the colour of the plant;
• Herb Robert has been used in magic rituals since the Middle Ages. The North American Indians, for example, used it to stop bleeding, and it was known as a blood purifier.
• In its natural state, its leaves can be incorporated into culinary dishes, from simple omelettes to fish recipes.