66 
No. 158. 
Cinnamomum virens, r. t. Baker. 
Native Camphor Laurel. 
(Family LAURACE^E.) 
Botanical description. —Genus, Cinnamomum. (See Part XLII, p. 35.) 
Botanical description. —Species, C. virens, R. T. Baker, Troc. Linn. Soc. N.S.TF., 
xxii, 282 (1897), with a plate (t. 13). 
A tree about 90 feet high, and up to 2 feet in diameter. 
Leaves opposite or occasionally alternate, rigid, coriaceous, shining above, green and glabrous on 
both sides, the reticulations prominent on the underside, lanceolate-acuminate, either cuneate 
or rounded at the base, margins nerve-like, 4 to 6 inches long, triplinerved but not 
prominently so, petiole rarely exceeding \ inch. 
Panicles opposite in the axils of the upper leaves, bearing a few flowers in the raceme shorter 
than the leaves, slightly pubescent. 
Pedicels the length of the calyx. 
Perianth-tube about 1 line, segments or lobes 2 lines long, constricted for about half its length 
so as to give it a calyx-like appearance as soon as the ovules are fertilised. 
Stamens shorter than the lobes. 
Stigma very slightly expanded. 
Berry 6 lines long, 4 broad, resting on an enlarged perianth-tube measuting across the top almost 
5 lines; shining. 
Pedicels enlarged under the fruit, the whole resembling some Quercus fruits and cups, such as 
Q. peduneulata, &c. (R. T. Baker, loc. cit.) 
It differs from G, Oliveri in its foliage, the uniform colour of the upper and lower surfaces of its 
leaves giving it a distinctive character from those of that species, which are dark-green coloured on the 
upper surface and whitish below. The neuration found in most other Cinnamomums is slightly developed 
in this species, although wanting in C. Oliveri. Some specimens preserve a light green colour, others 
darken a little, but the colour is always distinct from C. Oliveri , Bail., C. ovalifulium, Wight, C. Tamala, 
Nees, and C. Zeylanicum, Nees; the leaves are also thicker, more rigid, and le-'.s fragrant than those of 
C. Oliveri. 
It differs fi’om C. Tamala , Nees, the only Australian representative of this genus recorded in 
B FI. v, 303 (allowing for all variations), in the shape, colour, size and venation of the leaf, as well as 
in the characters of the stigma; from C. ovalifolium, Wight, in its lanceolate, unicoloured, glabrous 
leaves, which are also less coriaceous than those of that species. 
The perianth is very much more enlarged and thickened than in C. Oliveri, Bail., which has an 
entire and thin-edged enlarged perianth-tube, whilst this one appears to show rudimentary lobes. The 
fruits also are larger than those of C. Oliveri, Bail., and very shining. ...... 
