Bay laurel

Oil from laurel berries gives the famous Aleppo soap its green colour and distinctive herbal scent.

The bay laurel is an evergreen tree or large shrub with leathery, aromatic leaves – the bay leaves known in cooking. In spring it bears small yellowish flowers, and in autumn black, oily berries ripen. It grows in humid gorges and Mediterranean forests. In antiquity its sprigs were woven into wreaths for victors and poets.

Significance in the country

Aleppo soap, made for centuries from olive oil and laurel oil, is one of Syria’s most famous products. Laurel berries are gathered in the forests of the coastal mountains, especially around Kessab.

Where it grows

It grows wild in the Coastal Mountains (Jabal an-Nusayriyah) and the Kessab massif by the Mediterranean, in the Latakia and Tartus governorates.

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