A detailed comparison of the vegetative and reproductive structures inLaurus nobilisandL. azoricais presented. Most of the characters used by authors to differentiate the two species show a marked degree of overlap. The only characters for which absolute differences could be demonstrated were the leaf tomentum and chromosome number. The fossil record is discussed. None of the taxa referred toLauruscan be accepted as representatives of the genus. However, an examination made of leaf‐remains known asLaurophyllum abchasicumestablished that these belong to the genusLauru