Camphor tree
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Camphor tree ( Cinnamomum camphora ) |
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| Cinnamomum camphora | ||||||||||||
| ( L. ) J. Presl |
The camphor tree ( Cinnamomum camphora ), also called camphor laurel , is a species of the laurel family (Lauraceae). It belongs to the same genus as various tree species from whose bark the cinnamon spice is made.
description
Appearance, bark and leaf
The camphor tree grows as an evergreen tree that reaches heights of growth of up to 30 m or higher and a breast height diameter (BHD) of around 3 m. However, it can reach a diameter of over 7 m and be more than 1,500 years old. Even at a low height, the trunk branches out strongly and partly gnarled, it has a dense, spreading and broad crown. All parts of the plant smell strongly of camphor and also contain more or less camphor. The rough, longitudinally fissured, grayish-brown, aromatic bark peels off in irregular pieces. The bark of the stemmed branches is brownish and bare. The broadly egg-shaped terminal buds have broadly oval to almost circular scales.
The thin and shiny, slightly leathery, waxy leaves are arranged alternately on the branches and are divided into a petiole and a leaf blade. The bald, slender petiole is 2–4 cm long. With a length of 6–12 cm and a width of 2.5–5.5 cm, the leaf blade is ovate to elliptical and rounded, pointed to pointed or acuminate. The upper side of the leaf is dark green to yellow-green and shiny, the underside is dull green. Both leaf surfaces are bare or the underside is sparsely hairy as long as it is young. The leaf margin is completely and partly slightly wavy and often with cartilage margins. The lighter nerve is threefold and domatia can be present. When the leaves are crushed they have a strong smell of camphor.
The camphor tree is a relatively fast growing and long-lived tree. In its natural home in southern China, the tree can reach a height of 5 m and a trunk diameter of 12 cm in five years under optimal conditions. After 25 years a mean height of 15 m is reached.
Inflorescence and flower
The flowering period extends from April to May. Axillary on a 2.5–4.5 cm inflorescence stem is a 7–10 cm large paniculate inflorescence . The inflorescence stem and the inflorescence axis are hairy or hairy gray to yellow-brown, especially at the nodes. The bare flower stalks are 1–2 mm long. The hermaphrodite and fragrant flowers are about 3 mm in size. The green-white or yellowish tepals are hairy or hairy outside and densely hairy inside. The bloom cladding sheets are elliptical and rounded to round-pointed with a length of about 2-3 mm. There are nine 2 mm long fertile stamens with downy hairy stamens in three circles ; the inner three have two glands below and on the side, and there are usually three small staminodes in a fourth, innermost circle. The length 1 mm with ovoid, (semi) Upper permanent ovary is bare. The stylus has a length of about 1 mm, the cephalic scar is triangular.
The floral formula is: * P3 + 3 A3 + 3 + 3 + 3 St G .
fruit
The purple to almost black, glossy and fleshy stone fruit is round with a diameter of 7-10 mm. The enlarged flower base envelops the fruit basal like a cup; this has a length of about 5 mm and has a diameter of about 1 mm at the base and a diameter of about 4 mm in the trimmed upper area. The fruits ripen between August and November. The round, 5–6 mm large stone cores (seeds) only have a short viability of five to six weeks.
Chromosome number
The number of chromosomes is 2n = 24.
Dissemination and use
The camphor tree has its home in East Asia (China, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Vietnam) between the 10th and 30th parallel north. In China, it occurs naturally in Fujian , Jiangxi , Guangdong , Guangxi , Hunan , Yunnan , Sichuan , Zhejiang, and Jiangsu provinces . The main focus of its occurrence is the island of Taiwan . The tree blooms in warm, temperate to subtropical climates, but also under tropical highland conditions. It usually grows on the plain or in the hill country. The exception is northern Taiwan, where the tree is found up to a height of 1,800 meters. The mature trees can also endure light frost.
It is also grown to a greater extent in Sri Lanka and East Africa, as well as in Brazil. It is also found today in Australia, the southern United States, southern Europe, South and West Africa, Madagascar, and some oceanic islands . It is a highly invasive species in these areas.
The beautiful wood of the camphor tree has a bulk density (r 15 ) between 0.53 and 0.58 g / cm 3 and a compressive strength of 40–45 MPa . It dries slowly, is easy to work with and very resistant to wood-destroying fungi and insects. It is used for boat building and partly because of its aromatic smell for the production of special furniture and art objects. It can also be used as an incense .
Various oils are extracted from all parts of the tree, especially from the wood, mainly camphor oil , but also linalool , safrole and terpineol , which are used as basic substances for perfume production. The essential oil of ravintara is extracted from the leaves of the camphor tree . Camphor has been used in medicine since ancient times. Camphor was also one of the basic ingredients in the manufacture of celluloid , which was used to make early plastic products and films in the first half of the 20th century . Camphor can also come from two other plants ( Dryobalanops aromatica and Blumea balsamifera ).
The oil can be used as a substitute for rosewood oil from the wood of Aniba rosaeodora and Aniba parviflora , for the natural extraction of linalool.
The dried leaves are also used as a spice.
literature
- Xi-wen Li, Jie Li, Henk van der Werff: Cinnamomum in the Flora of China. Volume 7, 2008, p. 166: Cinnamomum camphora - online. (Section description).
- Henk van der Werff: Cinnamomum in the Flora of North America , Volume 3, 1997: Cinnamomum camphora - online. (Section description).
- OC Berg , CF Schmidt : Atlas of the officinal plants. Second edition, Volume III, Felix, 1899, pp. 75 f, T. 122, urn : nbn: de: hbz: 061: 2-166266 .
- Cinnamomum camphora in the Flora of Pakistan, accessed January 9, 2018.
Web links
- Cinnamomum camphora from Useful Tropical Plants, accessed January 9, 2018.
Individual evidence
- ↑ G. Pabst (Ed.): Koehler's medicinal plants in lifelike illustrations with brief explanatory texts: Atlas for Pharmacopoea germanica, austriaca, belgica, danica, helvetica, hungarica, rossica, suecica, Neerlandica, British pharmacopoeia, for Codex medicamentarius, as well to the Pharmacopoeia of the United States of America . tape 1 . Verlag Franz Eugen Köhler, Gera-Untermhaus 1897, ill. No.76 .
- ↑ Largest camphor tree on wondermondo.com, accessed on March 2, 2018.
- ↑ a b c d e Hsue Hsiang-hao: Cinnamomum camphora . In: Schütt, Weisgerber, Schuck, Lang, Stimm, Roloff (ed.): Trees of the tropics . Nikol Verlagsgesellschaft, Hamburg 2006, ISBN 3-933203-79-1 , p. 223-229 .
- ↑ Cinnamomum camphora at Tropicos.org. In: IPCN Chromosome Reports . Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis
- ^ Rosewood Oil. In: Flavors and fragances of plant origin. Non-Wood Forest Products 1, FAO - Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 1995, ISBN 92-5-103648-9 , Chapter 4, online at fao.org, accessed November 18, 2018.