562 



LAURINEAE. 



CiNNAMOMUM, Blume. 



Cinnamomum Camphora, T. Nees & Eberm, Handb. Med. 



Pharm. Bot. ii. p. 430. 



An evergreen tree upwards of 30 ft. ; but old trees may reach 

 90 or 100 ft. with a trunk 2-3 ft. in diam. Leaves alternate, 

 oval, acuminate, 3-6 ins. long ; 2-3 ins. broad, shining green 

 above, pale green below, with small pits in the axils of several 

 of the principal nerves. Inflorescence paniculate, axillary ; 

 flowers insignificant. Fruit a berry ; single seeded, not unhke 

 the seed of a '' Sweet Pe_a." 



III: — ^Nees von Esenbeck, Plant. Medic. Diisseld. t. 130 

 (Laurus Camphora)] Woodville, Med. Bot. iv. (1832) t. 236 

 {Laurus Camphora) ; Hayne, Darst. Beschr. Gewachse, xii. t. 27 

 {Camphora officinarum) ; Wight, Ic. PL Ind, Or. v. t. 1818 

 {Camphora officinarum) ; Berg & Schmidt, Darst. & Beschr. 

 Pharm. ii. t. lOe {Caynphora officinarum) ; Bentl. & Trimen, Med. 

 PI. t. 222 (Drawn from a tree in the Royal Gardens, Kew ; the 

 flowers added from a specimen in the British Museum — ^grown 

 in Mauritius ; the fruit added from Berg & Schmidt I.e.) ; Kohler, 

 Med. Pflan. ; Zippel, Ausl. Handels Nahrpfl, t. 24 {Camphora 

 officinarum) ; Planchon & ColHn, Les Drogues Simples, i. p. 375 



1 298; U.S. 



arc. No. 12, 1897, p. 1 



Tropenpfl. ii. 1898, p. 88; Shirasawa, Ic. Jap. i. t. 43, £E. 15-29 

 (fl. & fr. br. & wood specimen) ; Adelaide Bot. Gard. Off. Souv. 



■ » 



officinarum) ; Miyoshi 



Formosa) 



Bep. Union S. Africa, Dec. 31st, 1911 (Tree-age 14 years at 

 Umtata, Cape Prov.) ; Longo Biagio, L'Orto Inst. Bot. Univ. de 

 Siena (1915), p. 23. 



Camphor, Camphor Laurel. 



Native of China, Formosa and Japan ; cultivated experiment- 

 ally in Old Calabar— a tree about 10-15 ft. high in 1898, 

 Gold Coast, Natal, Amani (East Africa), Konakry (French 

 Guinea), Algeria, India, Burma, Fed. Malay States, Ceylon, 

 West Indies, Florida, California, &c., but nowhere does the 

 cultivation appear to have got beyond the experimental stage. 

 Japan with its Formosan production controls the market in the 

 camphor — w^ell known for its medicinal uses, in the manufacture 

 of celluloid and in Japan for its use in lacquer work. The 

 production of camphor and oil — obtained by distillation from 

 the wood chiefly — and also from the leaves is of the first import- 

 ance ; but the wood is valuable for cabinet work — much used in 

 Cen tral China (Henry, FL Sinensis , ii. p . 371) and in the 

 Chengtu Prefecture where no camphor is distilled the wood is 

 sawn into thin flat slabs beautifully marked, which under the 

 name of " Ying Mu " is made into small boxes and dressing 

 cases and used for facing inferior woods in the manufacture of 

 wardrobes and similar articles of furniture ; it is less expensive 



