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Botanical Name
Laurus nobilis

Bay Laurel

Details

Bay laurel is an aromatic evergreen shrub or tree of the laurel family, native to the Mediterranean. Its leathery, smooth-edged leaves come to a sharp point and are the bay leaves of the kitchen; male and female flowers, small and pale yellow-green, grow on separate plants, and the small berries ripen black. The Greeks called it daphne after the nymph who, in Ovid's version of the myth, was turned into a laurel to escape Apollo, and the tree became the god's own: victors at the Pythian Games won its wreaths, and his priestess at Delphi reputedly chewed the leaves before uttering prophecy. Rome made it a token of victory, and generals sent the Senate news of their triumphs wrapped in its leaves. People long believed lightning would spare the spot where a bay grew, yet in England a withering bay tree foretold a death, and bays were paired with rosemary at weddings and funerals alike. Culpeper placed it under the Sun and Leo as a tree that resists witchcraft. In magic it stands among the chief herbs of protection and purification: Cunningham has it worn against evil, burned at exorcisms, hung to stop poltergeists and set under the pillow for prophetic dreams, while wishes are written on its leaves and burned to bring them about.

Caution

AHPA safety class 1. Foods and skin products containing the leaf or its essential oil have caused allergic skin reactions (contact dermatitis), confirmed by patch tests. Safety in pregnancy and while nursing has not been established; Kynes advises avoiding bay in pregnancy and while breastfeeding, and not taking it alongside pain or sedative medication. Cunningham codes it as currently recognised safe. Grieve warns against mistaking the leaves of the poisonous cherry laurel, which now usually takes the name laurel, for bay's.

References

#1#2#3#4#5#6#7#8

Correspondences

Elements
Fire, Air
Celestial Bodies
Sun
Zodiac Signs
Gemini, Leo, Pisces
Colours
None recorded
Deities
Apollo (Greek), Ceres (Roman), Faunus (Roman), Eros (Greek), Adonis (Greek), Artemis (Greek), Asclepius (Greek), Bacchus (Roman), Cernunnos (Gaulish & British), Diana (Roman), Dionysus (Greek), Gaia (Greek), Helios (Greek), Hermes (Greek), Mars (Roman), Mercury (Roman), Ra (Egyptian), Vesta (Roman)

Folk Names

  • Baie
  • Bay
  • Bay Tree
  • Daphne
  • Grecian Laurel
  • Laurel
  • Laurier d'Apollon
  • Laurier Sauce
  • Lorbeer
  • Noble Laurel
  • Roman Laurel
  • Sweet Bay
  • True Bay
  • True Laurel

Categories

  • Abundance
  • Banishing
  • Creativity
  • Divination
  • Dream Work
  • Healing
  • Intuition
  • Justice
  • Legal Matters
  • Love
  • Peace
  • Prophecy
  • Prosperity
  • Protection
  • Psychic Work
  • Purification
  • Release
  • Strength
  • Success
  • Wisdom

Substitutes

No substitutes recorded.

Forms

Leaf

References

#9#10#11

Oil

Distilling the leaves gives a greenish-yellow volatile oil used in perfumery, and the berries yield a fixed oil, Oil of Bays, used on sprains and bruises. Kynes lists the essential oil among bay's forms. Grieve cautions that the West Indian oil distilled for bay rum comes from another plant, Pimenta acris, though it too is called oil of bay.

Caution

The essential oil has caused allergic skin reactions, confirmed by patch tests. Its main component, 1,8-cineole (eucalyptol), makes up 36–46% of the leaf oil. The oral LD50 in rats is 3.95 g/kg.

References

#12#13#14

References

Notes

  1. Culpeper, Complete Herbal, under "The Bay Tree".
  2. Cunningham, Cunningham's Encyclopedia of Magical, under "Bay"; p. 266.
  3. Gardner and McGuffin, American Herbal Products Association's, p. 502; p. xxii.
  4. Grieve, "Laurel (Bay)."
  5. Kynes, Herbal Remedies for Beginners, pp. 207–208.
  6. Kynes, Witches' Encyclopedia of Magical, under "Bay".
  7. Northcote, Book of Herbs, pp. 141–144.
  8. Wikipedia, under "Laurus nobilis."
  9. Cunningham, Cunningham's Encyclopedia of Magical, under "Bay".
  10. Gardner and McGuffin, American Herbal Products Association's, p. 502.
  11. Kynes, Herbal Remedies for Beginners, p. 207.
  12. Gardner and McGuffin, American Herbal Products Association's, pp. 502–503.
  13. Grieve, "Laurel (Bay)."
  14. Kynes, Witches' Encyclopedia of Magical, under "Bay".

Bibliography

  • Culpeper, Nicholas. The Complete Herbal. London: Thomas Kelly, 1850. Project Gutenberg ebook 49513. Last modified October 24, 2024. Accessed October 11, 2026. https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/49513. Open the Source1
  • Cunningham, Scott. Cunningham's Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs. 2nd ed. Woodbury, MN: Llewellyn Publications, 2012. (EPUB.)29
  • Gardner, Zoë, and Michael McGuffin, eds. American Herbal Products Association's Botanical Safety Handbook. 2nd ed. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, 2013. (PDF.)31012
  • Grieve, M. "Laurel (Bay)." A Modern Herbal. Accessed October 11, 2026. https://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/l/larbay10.html. Open the Source413
  • Kynes, Sandra. Herbal Remedies for Beginners: Natural Ways to Treat Ailments. Woodbury, MN: Llewellyn Publications, 2020. (EPUB.)511
  • Kynes, Sandra. The Witches' Encyclopedia of Magical Plants: History, Folklore, Correspondences, and Spells. Woodbury, MN: Llewellyn Publications, 2024. (EPUB.)614
  • Northcote, Lady Rosalind. The Book of Herbs. Handbooks of Practical Gardening 12. London: John Lane, The Bodley Head, 1903.7
  • Wikipedia, under "Laurus nobilis." Accessed October 11, 2026. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Laurus_nobilis&oldid=1374863417. Open the Source8