Laurus camphora, 
THE CAMPHOR-TREE. 
Synonymes. 
Laurus camphora, 
Camphrier, 
Campherbaum, 
Albero di canfora, 
Camphor-tree, Camphire-tree. 
Willdenow, Linnaei Species Plantarum. 
Michaux, North American Sylva. 
Loudon, Arboretum Britannicum. 
France. 
Germany. 
Italy. 
Britain and Anglo-America. 
Derivation. The word camphora is an alteration of the Arabic kdnfour, the name of the camphor-tree in that language. 
Engravings. Michaux, North American Sylva, pi. 83; Loudon, Arboretum Britannicum, iii., fig. 1174; and the figures 
below. 
Specific Characters. Leaves triple-nerved, shining above, glandular in the axils of the veins. Panicles 
axillary and terminal, corymbose, naked.. Pereira, Materia Medica. 
Descr'vptwn. 
2^211 HE Laurus camphora is a lofty, 
Si h H S3 evergreen tree, growing to a 
Si LI M> height of fifty or sixty feet, with 
II 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 
indigenous 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 XI th 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. 
