''Umbellularia californica'' is a large hardwood tree native to coastal forests and the Sierra foothills of California, and to coastal forests extending into Oregon. It is endemic to the California Floristic Province. It is the sole species in the genus ''Umbellularia''. The tree was formerly known as ''Oreodaphne californica''. In Yuki, it is called pōl’-cum ōl. In Oregon, this tree is known as Oregon myrtle, while in California it is called California bay laurel, which may be shortened to California bay or California laurel. It has also been called pepperwood, spicebush, cinnamon bush, peppernut tree, headache tree, mountain laurel, and balm of heaven. The tree's pungent leaves have a similar flavor to bay leaves, though stronger, and it may be mistaken for bay laurel. The dry wood has a color range from blonde (like maple) to brown (like walnut). It is considered an excellent tonewood and is sought after by

luthier A luthier ( ; AmE also ) is a craftsperson who builds or repairs string instruments that have a neck and a sound box. The word "luthier" is originally French and comes from the French word for lute. The term was originally used for makers o ...

s and woodworkers. The tree is a host of the pathogen that causes sudden oak death. Californiabaylaurel_tacomawa2

Description

It is an evergreen tree growing to tall with a trunk up to thick. The largest recorded tree is in Mendocino County, California, and measured (as of 1997) in height with a spread. The thin

bark Bark may refer to: * Bark (botany), an outer layer of a woody plant such as a tree or stick * Bark (sound), a vocalization of some animals (which is commonly the dog) Places * Bark, Germany * Bark, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, Poland Arts, ...

is smooth and gray-brown when young, later turning reddish brown and scaly. The fragrant

leaves A leaf (plural, : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant plant stem, stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", wh ...

are smooth-edged and lance-shaped, 3–15 cm long and around a third as wide, similar to the related bay laurel, though usually narrower, and without the crinkled margin of that species. The leaves are green, and lighter on the underside. The bark and leaves have a pungent scent resembling

camphor Camphor () is a waxy, colorless solid with a strong aroma. It is classified as a terpenoid and a cyclic ketone. It is found in the wood of the camphor laurel ('' Cinnamomum camphora''), a large evergreen tree found in East Asia; and in the k ...

when bruised, due to a chemical known as umbellulone. Umbellularia_californica_00094

The flowers are small, yellow or yellowish-green, produced in small umbels (hence the scientific name ''Umbellularia'', "little umbel"). Unlike other "bay laurels" of the genus '' Laurus'', ''Umbellularia'' has perfect flowers (male and female parts in the same flower). The fruit, also known as "California bay nut", is a round and green

berry A berry is a small, pulpy, and often edible fruit. Typically, berries are juicy, rounded, brightly colored, sweet, sour or tart, and do not have a stone or pit, although many pips or seeds may be present. Common examples are strawberries, raspb ...

2–2.5 cm long and 2 cm broad, lightly spotted with yellow, maturing purple. Under the thin, leathery skin, it consists of an oily, fleshy covering over a single hard, thin-shelled pit, and resembles a miniature avocado. ''Umbellularia'' is in fact closely related to the avocado's genus ''

Persea ''Persea'' is a genus of about 150 species of evergreen trees belonging to the laurel family, Lauraceae. The best-known member of the genus is the avocado, ''P. americana'', widely cultivated in subtropical regions for its large, edible fruit. O ...

'', within the family Lauraceae. The fruit ripens around October–November in the native range. The oldest-known living laurel is the Jepson Laurel, named after Willis Linn Jepson, in San Mateo County. The tree lives on San Francisco Water Department land, which agency cares for the tree. With their permission, the county parks places a placard and a picnic area nearby.

Distribution and habitat

''Umbellularia'' is found in southwest Oregon and in California south to San Diego County. It is also found in the western foothills of the

Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada () is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primarily ...

mountains. It occurs at altitudes from sea level up to . It is an introduced species in British Columbia, Washington, and northern Oregon. It mostly inhabits redwood forests, California mixed woods, yellow pine forest, and oak woodlands. Bays occur in oak woodland close to the coast, and in northern California where moisture is sufficient, usually in or near riparian areas. The species is very shade tolerant. It is reduced to a shrub in extreme dry and hot habitats. During the Miocene, oak-laurel forests were found in Central and Southern California. Typical tree species included oaks ancestral to present-day California oaks, and an assemblage of trees from the laurel family, including '' Nectandra, Ocotea,

,'' and ''Umbellularia''. Only one native species from the laurel family, ''Umbellularia californica'', remains in California today.

Ecology

The trees resprout after being killed by fire. Deer browse the fresh sprouts. The species is a host of '' Phytophthora ramorum'', the pathogen that causes the disease sudden oak death. It is important in this sense because it is one of two tree species ( tanoak being the other) on which the pathogen readily produces spores.

Uses

Historical usage

''Umbellularia'' has long been valued for its many uses by Native Americans throughout the tree's range, including the Cahuilla, Chumash,

Ohlone The Ohlone, formerly known as Costanoans (from Spanish meaning 'coast dweller'), are a Native American people of the Northern California coast. When Spanish explorers and missionaries arrived in the late 18th century, the Ohlone inhabited the ...

, Pomo, Miwok, Yuki, Coos, and Salinan people. The Concow tribe call the plant sō-ē’-bä ( Konkow language). Poultices of ''Umbellularia'' leaves were used to treat rheumatism and neuralgias. A tea was made from the leaves to treat stomach aches, colds, sore throats, and to clear up mucus in the lungs. The leaves were steeped in hot water to make an infusion that was used to wash sores. The Pomo and Yuki tribes of Mendocino County treated headaches by placing a single leaf in the nostril or bathing the head with a laurel leaf infusion. Both the flesh and the inner kernel of the fruit have been used as food by Native Americans. The fatty outer flesh of the fruit, or mesocarp, is palatable raw for only a brief time when ripe; prior to this the volatile aromatic oils are too strong, and afterwards the flesh quickly becomes bruised, like that of an overripe avocado.FeralKevin
Foraging, Bushcraft, Permaculture, and Rewilding blog. Native Americans dried the fruits in the sun and ate only the lower third of the dried mesocarp, which is less pungent. The hard inner seed underneath the fleshy mesocarp, like the pit of an avocado, cleaves readily in two when its thin shell is cracked. The pit itself was traditionally roasted to a dark chocolate-brown color, removing much of the pungency and leaving a spicy flavor. Roasted, shelled "bay nuts" were eaten whole, or ground into powder and prepared as a drink which resembles unsweetened chocolate. The flavor, depending on roast level, has been described variously as "roast coffee," "dark chocolate" or "burnt

popcorn Popcorn (also called popped corn, popcorns or pop-corn) is a variety of corn kernel which expands and puffs up when heated; the same names also refer to the foodstuff produced by the expansion. A popcorn kernel's strong hull contains the se ...

". The powder might also be used in cooking or pressed into cakes and dried for winter storage. It has been speculated that the nuts contain a stimulant; however this possible effect has been little documented by biologists.

Modern usage

The leaf has been used in cooking but contains large amounts of the toxic compound umbellulone, which causes

methemoglobinemia Methemoglobinemia, or methaemoglobinaemia, is a condition of elevated methemoglobin in the blood. Symptoms may include headache, dizziness, shortness of breath, nausea, poor muscle coordination, and blue-colored skin (cyanosis). Complications m ...

. Umbellulone is absent from culinary bay leaves ('' Laurus nobilis''). ''Umbellularia'' leaf imparts a somewhat stronger camphor/

cinnamon Cinnamon is a spice obtained from the inner bark of several tree species from the genus ''Cinnamomum''. Cinnamon is used mainly as an aromatic condiment and flavouring additive in a wide variety of cuisines, sweet and savoury dishes, breakfa ...

flavor compared to the Mediterranean bay. Some modern-day foragers and wild food enthusiasts have adopted Native American practices regarding the edible roasted fruit, the bay nut. ''Umbellularia californica'' is also used in woodworking. It is considered a tonewood, used to construct the backs and sides of acoustic guitars. The wood is very hard and fine, and is also made into bowls, spoons, and other small items and sold as "myrtlewood". It is also grown as an

ornamental tree Ornamental plants or garden plants are plants that are primarily grown for their beauty but also for qualities such as scent or how they shape physical space. Many flowering plants and garden varieties tend to be specially bred cultivars that i ...

, both in its native area, and further north up the Pacific coast to Vancouver in Canada, and in western Europe. It can be planted as a hedge or windbreak. It is occasionally used for firewood. According to a modern Miwok recipe for

acorn The acorn, or oaknut, is the nut of the oaks and their close relatives (genera ''Quercus'' and '' Lithocarpus'', in the family Fagaceae). It usually contains one seed (occasionally two seeds), enclosed in a tough, leathery shell, and borne ...

soup, "it is essential that you add a generous amount of California laurel" when storing acorns to dry, to keep insects away from the acorns. One popular use for the leaves is to put them between the bed mattresses to get rid of, or prevent, flea infestations. The wood is used as lumber in furniture making, especially highly figured specimens.

"Myrtlewood" money

"Myrtlewood" is the only wood still in use as a base "metal" for legal tender. During the 1933 "interregnum of despair" between Franklin Roosevelt's election and his inauguration, the only bank in the town of North Bend, Oregon—the First National—was forced to temporarily close its doors, precipitating a cash-flow crisis for the City of North Bend. The city solved this problem by minting its own currency, using myrtlewood discs printed on a newspaper press. These coins, in denominations from 25 cents to $10, were used to pay employees, with the city promising to redeem them for cash as soon as it became available. However, when the bank reopened and the city appealed for people to bring their myrtlewood money in to redeem it, many opted to keep their tokens as collector's items. After several appeals, the city announced that the tokens would remain legal tender in the city of North Bend in perpetuity. The unredeemed tokens have become very valuable, because of scarcity and historical interest. Fewer than 10 full sets are believed to exist.

Gallery

File:CaliforniaBayLaurelFlowers crwb.jpg, Flowers open in late winter and early spring File:Umbellularia Fruit.jpg, An unripe bay nut File:UmbellulariaFruitRipe.JPG, Nearly ripe bay nuts being prepared for roasting File:Roast Baynuts.jpg, Roasted bay nuts ready for eating, or grinding into a powdery paste for beverages and cooking File:Mature Umbellularia lignotuber sprouts in Doyle Community Park.jpg, This single ''Umbellularia'' lignotuber in

Doyle Community Park Doyle Community Park is an urban park on the eastern edge of downtown Santa Rosa, California. The western end of the park is the confluence of Matanzas Creek and Spring Creek. Spring Creek forms the northern park boundary and Matanzas Creek forms ...

supports multiple mature sprouts.

References

External links

MeSH
''Umbellularia'' - ''Umbellularia californica'' (California Bay Laurel)
Jepson Flora Project: ''Umbellularia californica''
Index of Species Information, U.S. Forest Service

{{Authority control Lauraceae genera Monotypic Laurales genera Trees of the Southwestern United States Trees of the Northwestern United States Flora of California Flora of Oregon Flora of the Sierra Nevada (United States) Natural history of the California chaparral and woodlands Natural history of the California Coast Ranges Trees of mild maritime climate Plants used in Native American cuisine Plants used in traditional Native American medicine Pre-Columbian California cuisine Garden plants of North America Drought-tolerant plants Ornamental trees Lauraceae