Persea palustris (Raf.) Sarg.
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Authority
Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.
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Family
Lauraceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Species Description - Tall shrub or tree to 10(–15) m, with thin, gray, fissured bark; twigs densely rusty-villous-tomentose; lvs lanceolate to oblong or oblanceolate, 10–15 cm, evidently and loosely villous or villous-tomentose beneath, but often glabrescent except for the usually persistently hairy midvein; petiole 1–2 cm; infls of axillary, compound dichasia, with numerous fls, the peduncle mostly 2–7 cm long and longer than the petiole; inner tepals 4–5 mm; anthers 4- locular; filaments puberulent; fr black, subglobose to ellipsoid, ca 1 cm; 2n=24. Swamps and wet woods on the coastal plain; Md. to Fla., Tex., and Bahama I. May, June (P. pubescens; P. borbonia var. pubescens)
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Discussion
The closely allied but less hairy P. borbonia (L.) Spreng., red bay, with the lvs thinly and closely rufous-strigulose beneath, and with short peduncles scarcely surpassing the petioles, has been attributed to our range but appears to be wholly more southern.
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Common Names
swamp-bay