Launis cam/)hora, 

 THE CAMPHOR-TREE. 



Synonymcs. 



Laurus camphor a, 



Camphrier, 

 Cainpherbaum, 

 Albero di canfora, 

 Camphor-tree, Camphire-tree, 



WiLLDENOw, Linnxi Species Plantarum 



MicHAUX, Norih American Sylva. 



Loudon, Arboretum Bntannicum. 



France. 



Germany. 



Italy. 



Britain and Anglo-America. 



Derivation. The word camphora is an alteration of the Arabic kdn/our, the name of the camphor-lrce in that language. 



Engravings. Michaux, North American Sylva, pi. 83; Loudon, Arboretum Britannicum, iii., fig. 1174; and the figurM 

 below. 



Specific Characters. Leaves triple-nerved, shining above, glandular in the axils of the veins, 

 axillary and terminal, corymbose, naked. Pereira, Materia Medica. 



Faoicles 



Description. 



[HE Laurus camphora is a lofty, 

 evergreen tree, growing to a 

 height of fifty or sixty feet, with 

 a trunk of a proportionate diam- 

 eter. The young branches are of a yellowish-green, and 

 smooth. The leaves are oval, acuminate, attenuate at the | 

 base, of a bright-green colour, shining above, and paler 

 beneath, with petioles from one inch to an inch and a 

 half in length. The flowers, which are small, and of a 

 yellowish-white, are succeeded by round, dark-red ber- 

 ries, about the size of a black currant, each containing a 

 solitary seed. 



Geography and History. The Laurus camphora is 

 mdigenous to China, Japan, and Cochin-China, and has 

 been introduced into Java, and other islands of the same 

 group. 



" The ancient Greeks and Romans," observes Pereira, " do not appear to have 

 been acquainted with camphor. C. Bauhin, and several subsequent writers, 

 state that Aetius speaks of it ; but I have been unable to find any notice of it in 

 his writings ; and others have been equally unsuccessful in their search of it. 

 Avicenna and Serapion speak of it ; the latter calls it kaphor^ and erroneously 

 cites Dioscorides. Simeon Seth, who lived in the Xlth century, describes it; and 

 his description is considered, both by Voigtels and by Sprengel to be the earliest 

 record." This tree, Michaux remarks, possesses a high degree of interest for the 

 United States, and should especially engage the attention of the inhabitants of 

 Florida, the lower parts of the Carolinas, and of Louisiana. Its multiplication, 

 in these climates, he says, would be so easy, that after a few years, it might be 

 abandoned to nature. 



Properties and Uses. The wood of the camphor-tree, which is of a whitish 

 colour, is strongly impregnated with camphor, and is sometimes employed for 

 making trunks and boxes, that are liable to be infested with insects or worms. 



