sweet bay

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun A shrub or small tree (Magnolia virginiana) of the eastern United States, having large fragrant white flowers and red fruit.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun The noble or victor's laurel, Laurus nobilis, which is also the common bay-tree, in southern Europe becoming a tree of 40 or 50 feet, in cooler regions grown as a shrub.
• noun The swamp-laurel Magnolia glauca. See Magnolia.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun shrub or small tree having rather small fragrant white flowers; abundant in southeastern United States