508 
Camphor  Tree. 
/Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
\     October,  1897. 
those  of  the  cinnamon  and  many  other  species  of  the  genus.  The 
small  white  or  greenish-white  flowers  {Fig.  I,  b)  are  borne  in  axillary- 
racemes  from  February  to  April,  on  shoots  of  the  previous  season, 
and  are  followed  in  October  by  berry-like,  one-seeded  fruits  about 
Y%  inch  in  diameter  {Fig.  I,  c).  The  fruiting  pedicels  terminate  in 
a  saucer-shaped  disk,  persisting  after  the  mature  fruit  has  fallen. 
NATIVE  RANGE. 
The  camphor  tree  is  native  in  the  coast  countries  of  Eastern  Asia 
from  Cochin  China  nearly  to  the  mouth  of  the  Yang-tse-kiang,  and 
on  the  adjacent  islands  from  the  southern  part  of  the  Japanese  Em- 
pire, including  Formosa  and  the  Ryukyu  Islands,  to  Hainan,  off  the 
coast  of  Cochin  China.  Its  range  also  extends  into  the  interior  of 
China  as  far  as  the  province  of  Hupeh,  about  500  miles  from  the 
coast  on  the  Yang-tse-kiang,  in  latitude  300  north.  This  area,  ex- 
tending from  io°  to  340  north  latitude,  and  from  105 0  to  1300  east 
longitude,  is  all  embraced  in  the  eastern  monsoon  region,  which  is 
remarkable  for  abundant  rains  in  summer. 
The  camphor  trees  growing  wild  in  the  native  range  are  usually 
most  abundant  on  hillsides  and  in  mountain  valleys,  where  there  is 
good  atmospheric  as  well  as  soil  drainage.  The  temperature  in  the 
greater  part  of  this  region,  which  is  partly  within  the  tropics  and 
partly  subtropical,  rarely  falls  below  freezing.  The  tree  is  an  ever- 
green, changing  its  leaves  generally  in  April,  and  therefore  the 
winter  temperature  is  a  factor  of  more  importance  than  would  be 
the  case  with  a  deciduous  tree. 
RANGE  UNDER  CULTIVATION. 
Notwithstanding  the  comparatively  narrow  limits  of  its  natural 
environment,  the  camphor  tree  grows  well  in  cultivation  under 
widely  different  conditions.  It  has  become  abundantly  naturalized 
in  Madagascar.  It  flourishes  at  Buenos  Ayres.  It  thrives  in  Egypt, 
in  the  Canary  Islands,  in  southeastern  France,  and  in  the  San  Joaquin 
Valley,  in  California,  where  the  summers  are  hot  and  dry.  Large 
trees,  at  least  200  years  old,  are  growing  in  the  temple  courts  at 
Tokyo,  where  they  are  subject  to  a  winter  of  seventy  to  eighty 
nights  of  frost,  with  an  occasional  minimum  temperature  as  low  as 
120  to  160  F.  The  most  northern  localities  in  the  United  States, 
so  far  as  known  at  this  Department,  where  the  camphor  tree  has 
