HIPERnatural.COM PALO LORO
prunus lusitanica  l.
PALO LORO PALO LORO
PALO LORO (prunus lusitanica  l.)
2009 © HIPERnatural.COM
Laurocerasus lusitanica (L.) M. Roem.

Family: Rosaceae

Place of origin: Species spontaneously in the Iberian Peninsula, Macaronesia and North Africa.

Etymology: Prunus, Latin name of the wild plum. Lusitanica, from the Latin lusitanicus-a-um, the Lusitania, Portugal.

Description: Small evergreen tree that can reach 10 m in height, with dark-gray bark. Simple leaves, ovate-lanceolate, from 3.5-12.5 cm. long and 2-5 cm. wide, hairless on both sides, something coriaceous. Range scalloped or with teeth mucron. Make shimmering green and paler underside and glaucous. Petiole 1.5-2.5 cm. in length. White flowers of about 8 mm in diameter, gathered in axillary racemes 15-25 cm. long, longer than the leaves. They appear around June and are not fragrant. Fruit ovoideo of about 8 mm in diameter, hairless, the first green and then purple-black at maturity, on short stalks. Bone smooth.

Cultivation and uses: The wood is pink and is used in woodwork. There are some horticultural cultivars: 'angustifolia', 'Myrtifolia', 'Variegata'.