# Laurel (Laurus nobilis)

**Lauro**

**Known today as.** Bay laurel, *Laurus nobilis*: oil, leaves, and berries.

Kind: Plant

## What did Canale use it for?

Laurel oil for anointing; leaves and berries in the oil for the bewitched; among the amulets (chs. 9–10).

## What does modern science say?

Aromatic; the oil of the berries is rubbed on for rheumatism and sprains.

## Pharmacognosy and toxicology

- **1,8-cineole**: 40–50 per cent of the leaf oil
- **eugenol and methyleugenol**: 
- **costunolide**: a sesquiterpene lactone, a contact allergen
- **lauric acid**: in the berry fat

**Mechanism.** The bay of the kitchen, *Laurus nobilis*, not the cyanide-bearing cherry laurel: its oil is antimicrobial and carminative, the berry oil is a rubefacient in liniments, and the lactones sensitise the skin. Pythia’s laurel chewing does not intoxicate; the leaf is not psychoactive at any dose.

**Dose.** The leaf is safe as food; the oil and the lactones cause contact dermatitis.

**Standing.** A spice; the berry oil (oleum lauri) is in European folk liniments; no monograph.

## What lore surrounds it?

Suetonius records that the emperor Tiberius, otherwise dismissive of religion, was so afraid of thunder that he wore a laurel wreath in stormy weather, because laurel was said never to be struck by lightning.

## What did the older authorities say?

**Ovid.** Daphne, fleeing Apollo, becomes the laurel, which the god makes his own tree.

**Delphi.** Laurel was the plant of Apollo’s oracle, and of the victors’ crowns at the Pythian games.

## Sources

- Suetonius, *Life of Tiberius* 69.
- Hausen, B. M., and Vieluf, I. K. (1997). *Allergiepflanzen*, 2nd ed., “*Laurus nobilis*.”
- Fiorini, C., et al. (1997). “Composition of the flower, leaf and stem essential oils from *Laurus nobilis* L.” *Flavour and Fragrance Journal* 12.

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*Laurel.* In *Materia Medica*, edited by B. C. P. Statema. Version 1, revised 2026-09-25. The Thinking Press. https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/laurel

Historical description, not medical advice.