I'm not that educated, I've never understood what's the big deal with bay leaves in the first place. I've never fished bay leaves out of a stew or whatever and then later been "mmm, that's delicious from the bay leaves!" But I once did a carnitas recipe involving a rub made mostly from ground/powdered dry bay leaves.
Those leaves look about right, but checking for pictures online, the bark of the trunk doesn't look what I remembered this morning. Further down the road I grabbed a leaf from overhead to rub and smell when I was riding, I didn't really smell much. But I am very low on smell from being just a few days off a vicious (non-covid) cold. Maybe I'll pause and get a phone pic tomorrow morning.