376 LXII. LAURINE^. [Ctnnamomum. 



2. C. glanduliferum, Meissner ; DC. Prodr. xv. i. 25. — Syn. Laurus 

 glanduUfera, Wall. Vern. Malligiri, marisgiri, Nepal. 



A large (probably) deciduous tree ; brancblets very glaucous when 

 fresh ; leaf-buds large, ovoid, covered with ovate imbricate scales. Leaves 

 alternate, thick-coriaceous, elliptic, acuminate, penniveined, main lateral 

 nerves 4-8 pair, narrowed into petiole f in. long, blade 3-4 in. long ; small 

 glandulose pits, generally hairy, in the axUs of the lateral nerves. Flowers 

 small, yellowish-green, fragrant, in axillary grey-pubescent corymbs, several 

 corymbs approximate near the ends of branchlets. Berry supported by 

 the truncate base of perianth. 



East Bengal (Chittagong, Silhet, Sikkim). Nepal, 6000-8000 ft. (Chandagiri, 

 south, and Sheopore, north of the Nepal vaUey), Petora in Kamaon (about 5000 

 ft.) Fl. May, Jvine. Attains 60-80 ft., with a straight erect trunk of 12 ft. 

 girth and above. Foliage dense, shady. Bark 1-2 in. thick, the outside cracked 

 and spongy ; inner substance of a fine cinnamon colour, regularly striped with 

 white Hnes, owing to a number of parallel layers of a white resinous substance. 

 The smeU and taste of the bark, while fresh, is extremely aromatic and pleas- 

 ant, somewhat pungent, resembling that of Sassafras; that of the root is 

 more powerfully scented than the bark of trunk and branches. Wood pale- 

 yellow, very light, not strong ; while fresh it has a strong smell of Camphor, 

 like that of which the China camphor-wood trunks axe made, becoming by age 

 somewhat fainter, but more agreeable, resembling that of the bark. Groves 

 freely at Calcutta. — Wall, in Transactions of Medical and Physical Society, vol. 

 i., 1823, p. 5. 



C. Gampliora, Nees & Ebermaier ; DC. Prodr. xv. i. 24 — Syn. Laurus cam- 

 pJwrifera, Ksempfer'; Koxb. Fl. Ind. ii. 304, Camphora offidnarum, Bauh. ; 

 Wight Ic. t. 1818 ; the Japan Camphor-tree, belongs to the same section, but 

 has longer-petiolate leaves, main lateral nerves 2-3 pair, the lowest pair pro- 

 ceeding from near the base of the leaf. Camphor is a crystalline volatile 

 substance, in chemical composition akia to volatile oils, which is obtained by 

 boiling chips of the wood and roots with water, when the crude camphor is 

 sublimed with the steam and deposited on straw, with which the head of the 

 retort is filled. It is afterwards purified by sublimation with lime or chalk. 

 The tree attains a considerable size, and is indigenous in China, Japan, and 

 Cochin-China ; some of the China camphor-wood trunks sold in Calcutta are 

 made of it. 



The Sassafras tree, Sassafras oficinale, Nees ; DC. Prodr. xv. i. 171, belongs 

 to a different tribe of this Order : it is a large dioicous tree, the male flowers have 

 9 fertile stamens, aU with introrse anthers, and without staminodia, the female 

 flowers have 6 short sterile stamina, the leaves are obovate, with cuneate basis, 

 often 3-lobed. Bark and wood of the root are fragrant and a valuable medi- 

 cine (Pharm. Ind. 192). North America, from Canada to Florida. 



2. PHCEBB, Nees. 



Shrubs and trees (always ?) evergreen. Leaves alternate, penniveined. 

 Flowers bisexual, in axillary panicles, bracts deciduous. Perianth funnel- 

 shaped, 6-cleft. Stamens biseriate, the outer series consisting of 6 perfect 

 stamens opposite to the segments of the perianth, with introrse, 4-ceUed 

 anthers, the cells opening by valves ; the inner series of 3 perfect stamens. 



