Species Name: Cinnamomum camphora Linn

Common Name: Camphor tree, Camphorwood or Camphor Laurel

Family:
Lauraceae Family
Plant Habit & Habitat:
It is a large, perennial evergreen tree that grows up to 2030 meters tall, terrestrial. It usually
occurs in valleys and mountain slopes.
Stem:
Usually a definite camphor odor in the blaze. Blaze often with a few sparse layers. Young stems
are red in color.
Roots:
It has a very dense, shallow root system which, when accompanied by the shading provided by
the canopy, suppresses the regeneration of native seedlings. It has a taproot system with lateral
roots.

Leaves:
The leaves are alternately arranged, but sometimes densely clustered (pseudo-whorled), with leaf
stalks (petioles) 15-40 mm long. These leaves (4.5-11 cm long and 2.4-6 cm wide) vary from
oval (elliptic) to broadly egg-shaped in outline with broad end at base (broadly ovate) and have
three distinct veins spreading from their bases. They are hairless (glabrous) with entire margins
that are often wavy (undulating), and have pointed tips (acute apices). The leaf buds are enclosed
in distinctive overlapping scales when they are young.
Inflorescence:
The flowers are borne in small branched clusters (about 7.5 cm long) at the tips of the branches
(in terminal panicles).
Flower:
The flowers are bisexual, in lax axillary, hermaphroditic, actinomorphic; ovary 1, locular; ovule
1, pendulous or basal. They are small with six whitish, greenish-white or pale yellowish 'petals'
(perianth lobes) 1.5-3 mm long. They also have 5-9 stamens.
Fruit:
#36 PASCUAL PATRICIA A.

The fruit looks like 'berries', but they are actually drupes containing a hard centre. These fruit
are globular (8-10 mm across), glossy in appearance, and turn from green to black as they
mature. They are attached to the stem by an enlarged, greenish-coloured, cone-shaped or cup-like
structure (a conical or cupular receptacle) that is about 5 mm across.
Seeds:
It is one-seeded. The seed coat is hard and the endosperm is white and firm.
Economic Importance:
C. camphora is cultivated for camphor, which is used as a culinary spice, a component of
incense, and as a medicine. Camphor is also an insect repellent and a flea-killing substance.
Medicinal Uses:
It works against fevers and hysterical complaints. It is also used against Gout, rheumatic pains,
neuralgia, painful nerves, colds, diarrhea general body inflammations, bruises, and sprains.
Chemical constituents:
Camphor laurel has six different chemical variants called chemotypes, which
are camphor, linalool, 1,8-cineole, nerolidol, safrole, or borneol. In China field workers avoid
mixing chemotypes when harvesting by their odour.
Photo:







Other Representatives:

Cinnamomum Zeylanicum Cinnamomum Kanehirai

#36 PASCUAL, PATRICIA A.