Cherry Laurel
Prunus laurocerasus
Washington State Classification
Monitor List
This plant is on the monitor list - it is not a listed noxious weed in Washington.
Quick Reference
Identification
Growth Habit
Large, spreading, evergreen shrub, growing to around 20 feet tall and wide spreading.
Leaves
Leaves are alternately arranged, leathery with serrated to almost smooth margins and two glands at the base of the blade near point of attachment with petiole. Leaf blades ~2-8 inches long, oval to elliptic-oblong in shape, and dark to medium green above, paler green below.
Flowers
Flowers in upright racemes, 2-5 inches long. Flowers white, with 5 petals and about 0.4 inches (1 cm) wide.
Fruit & Seeds
Fruit is a black to purple-black drupe, 0.5" long.
Impact
This plant is on the monitor list - it is not a listed noxious weed in Washington. Please contact the Laurel Baldwin via noxiousweeds@agr.wa.gov to report locations of where plants are found growing outside of ornamental plantings.
Ecology & Spread
Habitat
Cherry laurel is used in landscape plantings. It has been documented escaping from gardens in western Washington by herbarium specimens in a number of counties.
Spread Mechanisms
Reproduction
Plants spread by seed and can resprout from cut stems. Birds eat the fruit and can spread seeds into remote areas.
"