Evergreen dicotyledonous tall shrub or tree with a dense crown. The leaves are alternate, oblong-lanceolate with a slightly wavy edge, leathery, dark green, matte and fragrant. The flowers are small, white, in bunches in the axils of the leaves. The fruit is an oval black-brown or black-blue drupe with a thin fruit-bearing cell containing essential oil cells.
The leaves are used as a spice. Homeland is the Middle East and Transcaucasia.
Leaves are used in folk medicine for medicinal purposes. They insist on linseed or sunflower oil to obtain bay oil, which is used for rubbing in paralysis and rheumatism.
Application
Preparation of bay oil: 30 g of finely chopped bay leaves per 200 g of oil are infused in a warm place for about 6 days, then filtered and squeezed.
In pharmacies, there is bay oil, but it is not from the leaves, but from the fruits of this tree. It is used as an analgesic and for rubbing against rheumatism.