CAMPHOR 257 



dark brown, the 6-lobed perianth folded over the depressed and 

 smooth ovary. The odor is aromatic; taste pungent, aromatic and 

 astringent. Cassia buds yield a volatile oil containing cinnamic 

 aldehyde, which resembles that of Cassia Cinnamon. 



Wild Cinnamon, the bark of Cinnamomum pedatinervum, a 

 tree indigenous to the Fiji Islands, yields a volatile oil containing 

 from 40 to 50 per cent of linalool and safrol, 15 to 20 per cent of a 

 terpene; 1 per cent of eugenol, and about 3 per cent of eugenol- 

 methyl-ether. 



Aromatic Powder. Consisting of powdered saigon cinnamon, 

 powdered ginger, crushed cardamom deprived of pericarps and 

 powdered myristica. Light reddish-brown; with a strong distinct 

 aromatic odor; consisting chiefly of the characteristic starch grains 

 of Ginger, being ellipsoidal or ovoid, slightly beaked and from 0.005 

 to 0.060 mm. in diameter; numerous yellowish-brown, brownish- 

 red and occasional blackish fragments, the cellular structure of which 

 is not distinct; occasional stone cells, the lurnina being filled usually 

 with a reddish-brown amorphous substance or containing air; occa- 

 sional fragments with sclerenchymatous fibers, the walls being 

 scarcely if at all lignified ; calcium oxalate crystals very few and only 

 in the form of short raphides. 



CAMPHORA. Camphor. A crystalline product deposited in 

 the wood and present in the volatile oil occurring in Cinnamomum 

 (Laurus) Camphora (Fam. Lauracea3), a small tree indigenous to 

 eastern Asia and cultivated in Formosa, Japan and other subtropical 

 countries. It has been grown successfully in Florida and California. 

 Camphor occurs as a crystalline deposit in lacunae or clefts in the 

 stem, but occurs in larger quantities dissolved in the volatile oil. 

 The latter exists to the greatest extent in the roots and the least in 

 the leaves and twigs. Camphor arises as a product of the oxidation 

 of the volatile oil. 



In the preparation of commercial camphor, the tree is cut down 

 and the roots and lower portion of the trunk subjected to distillation. 

 This is usually accomplished in the winter time when the camphor 

 is deposited in greatest amounts. The product which is distilled 

 consists of a granular and light reddish mass containing about 80 

 per cent of camphor and 20 per cent of a volatile oil. It is collected 

 in bamboo canes or tubs and sent from Formosa to Europe and 

 America, where it is refined by sublimation. Japan and Formosa 

 produce annually about 4,000,000 K. of camphor, a smaller quan* 

 tity, about 120,000 K. being produced in the Chinese province, 

 Fokein. About one-third of all the camphor produced is shipped 



