Botanical Name
Persea borbonia
Common Name
Redbay
Wetland Status
FACW
An attractive aromatic evergreen tree or shrub, and a wonderful shade tree that can tolerate a wide range of soils, from hot and dry to wet and swampy. As a tree, can grow 60-70’ tall and 2-3’ wide. As a shrub, it seldom grows to more than 30-50’ tall. Presumably these differences in growth are a reflection of variation in site quality. Dried leaves make an excellent substitute for those of the tropical bay and may be used in the same way for seasoning food. Attracts birds.
The magnolia psyllid or plant louse pest produces large disfiguring galls along redbay leaves. Redbay tolerates this form of leaf damage well and the pest causes little damage except aesthetic problems due to the gall’s appearance and associated leaf deformity