Camphor Tree (LA Urban Forest Program)

Camphor Tree

Cinnamomum camphora

Summary ⁴

Cinnamomum camphora (commonly known as Camphor tree, Camphorwood or camphor laurel) is a large evergreen tree that grows up to 20–30 metres tall. The leaves have a glossy, waxy appearance and smell of camphor when crushed. In spring it produces bright green foliage with masses of small white flowers. It produces clusters of black berry-like fruit around one centimetre in diameter. It has a pale bark that is very rough and fissured vertically.

Description ⁵

Trees large; branchlets slender, glabrous; terminal buds large, perulate, the outer bud scales glabrous, the inner sericeous. Leaves spirally arranged, glabrous, chartaceous to sub-coriaceous, ovate-elliptic to elliptic to subovate-elliptic, 1-5 x 3-10 cm, base acute or tapered-cuneate, both surfaces minutely reticulate or above smooth; main nerves slender; the sub-basal lateral nerves ascendent to 1/2- 2/3 the lamina length, additional nerves erect-patent, often the axils bullate above and excavate pilose underneath, secondary nerves faint. Petiole slender, 2-4 cm long. Panicles axillary, slender, glabrous, many-flowered, up to 10 cm long with few short branches. Pedicels 1-2 mm, obconical. Tepals ovate, acutish, fleshy, c. 2 mm. Stamens 1.5 mm long; anthers broad, filaments as long, pilose; inner anthers truncate, upper cells smaller, latrorse; gland large, attached to the basal part of the filament. Staminodes mm, stipitate. Style as long as the ovary with peltate triquetrous stigma. Fruit globose, slightly fleshy, 5-10 mm in diameter, seated on a shallow, thin cup, 3-5 mm in diameter at the apex, 1-2 mm deep, the basal part fleshy, obconical, usually not differentiated from the obconical pedicel, together 5-7 mm long.

Description ⁶

Trees , to 15 m. Branches terete, glabrous, terminal and axillary buds covered by imbricate bracts, young twigs with clusters of scars from fallen bracts. Leaves alternate; petiole to 3 cm. Leaf blade ovate to elliptic or elliptic-lanceolate, with (1-)3 primary veins, 7-12 × 3-5 cm, base rounded to cuneate, apex sharply acute; surfaces glabrous except for pubescent domatia in axils of main lateral veins. Flowers: tepals greenish white, 1-2 mm, glabrous abaxially, pubescent adaxially; stamens arranged in outer whorl of 6 (actually 2 whorls of 3) and inner whorl of 3. Drupe to 9 mm diam. 2 n = 24.

Fuentes y créditos

(c) Jennifer Rycenga, algunos derechos reservados (CC BY-NC), subido por Jennifer Rycenga
(c) icosahedron, algunos derechos reservados (CC BY), subido por icosahedron
(c) Sida Lin, algunos derechos reservados (CC BY-NC-SA), http://www.flickr.com/photos/29746011@N00/2330689618
Adaptado por earthwatchtrees del trabajo de (c) Wikipedia, algunos derechos reservados (CC BY-SA), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinnamomum_camphora
(c) Missouri Botanical Garden, 4344 Shaw Boulevard, St. Louis, MO, 63110 USA, algunos derechos reservados (CC BY-NC-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/4963928
(c) Missouri Botanical Garden, 4344 Shaw Boulevard, St. Louis, MO, 63110 USA, algunos derechos reservados (CC BY-NC-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/4963921