126 ORD. Dipterocarpex. DRYOBALANOPS CAMPHORA, 
ceous fragrance.** Figure (a) the perianth and capsule, (6) transverse section 
of the capsule, (c) horizontal section of the same, (d) the embryo magnified. 
It has been supposed that the greater part of the camphor of commerce is 
the product of the Lawrus camphora.t Keempfer, indeed, had long ago re- 
marked, that the camphor which is found in a concrete state, and which oc- 
cupies large portions in the trunk of a tree, growing in the islands of Bor- 
neo and Sumatra, is not produced by the Lawrus camphora; but we are in- 
debted to Mr. H. T. Colebroke for the discovery of the species which yields it. 
The camphor yielded by the Dryobalanops camphora, is found occupying 
portions of about a foot, or a foot and a half, in the heart of the tree. The 
natives, in searching for the camphor, make a deep incision in the trunk, 
about fourteen or eighteen feet from the ground, with a billing or Malay 
axe; and when it is discovered, the tree is felled, and cut into junks ofa 
fathom long. The same trees yield a liquid, or oily matter, which has nearly 
the same properties as the camphor, and is supposed to be the first stage of 
its formation. The precise age when this tree begins to yield camphor, has 
not yet been satisfactorily ascertained, but the young trees are known to 
yield only oil. The method of extracting the oil, is by making a deep inci- 
sion, with a small aperture, into the heart of the tree, and the oil (if any) 
immediately gushes out, and is received in bamboos, &e. The product of a 
middling-sized tree is about eight China catties, or about eleven pounds, 
and a large tree will yield nearly double that quantity. It is said that trees 
which have been cut (for the purpose of extracting the oil) and left standing 
in that state, will often produce camphor in eight or ten years after;{ but it 
is of an inferior quality. 
* Specimens of the flowers were sent by Mr. Prince to Sir Stamford Raffles in 1 1819, 
from which a description was drawn up and published by Mr. W. Jack, in No. I. of the 
Malayan Miscellanies. According to Mr. Jack, the flowers are terminal and axillary, 
forming a kind of panicle at the extremity of the branches; the calyx is monophyllous, 
with five linear-lanceolate, spreading segments ; the corolla is five-petaled, longer than 
the calyx ; the petals ovate-lanceolate ; the stamens are numerous, and have their fila- 
ments united into a ring ; in which particular it differs from the genera most nearly al- 
lied to it; the anthers are nearly sessile on the tube of the filaments, conniving into a 
conical head round the style, and terminating in membranous points; the germen is su- 
perior, ovate, with a eGR filiform style, longer than the stamens, and crowned by a 
capitate stigma. 
+ Vide vol. IV. p. 681, of this work. t+ Asiatic Researches, vol. xii. 
