laurel

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LAUREL

botanical name unknown
There are at well over 200 species worldwide, from at least 70 different genera, that have the word laurel as all or part of one or more of their common names and except as specifically stated, I have no idea which of them are represented on this page.

East Indian laurel is a well-known variety and it has its own page on this site, where you will see that the name normally refers to Terminalia tomentosa but may also include Terminalia alata, Terminalia arjuna and Terminalia elliptica.

Indian laurel on the other hand, is actually a fig variety, usually Ficus retusa or Ficus microcarpa, but there is confusion because often vendor do not even realize there IS an Indian laurel and so call East Indian laurel just Indian laurel.

In the USA, there is some confusion about the names "myrtle" and "laurel" for wood but that is entirely due to a single species. My database shows 207 species that contain the word "laurel" as all or part of one or more of their common names. Then there are 97 species that have the word "myrtle" as all or part of one or more of their common names. Of all of these, there is only a single species that overlaps. that is, there is a single species (at least of the lumber-producing species in my database) that has both "laurel" and "myrtle" in various of its common names, and that is Umbellularia californica. This species is the sole species in the genus Umbellularia and it has many common names with "laurel" and many with "myrtle" but the two most common are Oregon myrtle and California Laurel. Since it is in the Lauraceae family (the laurel family), I have included it as a laurel but it has its own page: "laurel, california".

Laurel blanco / Cordia alliodora has its own page on this site

my samples:
NOTE: these pics were all taken in very bright incandescent lighting ("soft white" at 2700K)
colors will vary under other lighting conditions

both sides of a sample plank of laurel / Nectandra coriacea --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample plank of laurel / Nectandra coriacea --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample plank of Grecian laurel / Laurus nobilis --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample plank of red bay (aka Carolina laurel) / Persea borbonia --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site. I think the whitish streaking is white rot.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample plank of red bay (aka Carolina laurel) / Persea borbonia --- HUGE enlargements are present.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample plank of Chilean laurel burl / Laurelia aromatica --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site. The difference in color between the two sides is that the first side has been fine sanded and the second side still has a bit of a patina.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample plank of mountain laurel / Kalmia latifolia --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site. The ray-like lines are NOT rays, they are heart shake.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

The following pics are all of a piece of "mountain laurel / Sophora secundiflora" that was contributed to the site by James Lopez whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site. James tells me this is a cut-off from the end of a burl section and that it grows in central Texas. My data shows that it also grows in Mexico.

both faces

end grain and a side shot

end grain closeup and face grain closeup

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above (but this after the end was cut-off perpendicular to the length of the face piece)

East Indian laurel veneer, sold as "fiddleback", and I find that the "fiddleback" representation is commonly used for this variety, BUT the "fiddleback" figure is very faint and to my mind somewhat bogus. I consider that there is zero probability that anyone in their right mind would use this for the back of a fiddle.

burl veneer --- don't know what happened on my camera's color setting for these but I can't get the color correction to come out quite right. The actual sheets have a slightly more yellow look than these pics

burl veneer sheet and closeup

This veneer sheet of Far Eastern laurel burl was loaned to me by John Koehn whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.

This veneer sheet of South American laurel burl was loaned to me by John Koehn whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.

The Wood Book pics

flat cut, quartersawn, end grain
great laurel (Rhododendron maximum, also listed as rose bay) from The Wood Book --- both levels of enlargement are available for each of the 3 views

flat cut, quartersawn, end grain
mountain laurel (Kalmia latifolia) from The Wood Book --- both levels of enlargement are available for each of the 3 views

flat cut, quartersawn, end grain
red bay (Persea borbonia) from The Wood Book --- both levels of enlargement are available for each of the 3 views. This species is also known as Carolina laurel

web pics:

three planks from the same vendor

listed as Oregon laurel

planks --- the first one was not listed as a burl but clearly is

planks, all from the same vendor and all listed as laurel burl / Laurelia sempervirens. My data shows that this is a South American wood. The last two pics are of a pair and a closeup of one of the planks. Clearly some of these have been moistened for the pics.