Plant · P-644

Camphor Tree

Cinnamomum camphora

Camphor Tree is a large, slow-growing evergreen whose wood is steam-distilled for camphor oil, a fragrance and medicine ingredient that has to wait until the tree is at least twenty years old to harvest. The oil's chemistry varies tree to tree - it can come out dominated by camphor, linalool, safrole or cineole - and the species has become an important natural source of linalool for perfumery. Its dense, salt-tolerant crown works well as a windbreak or shade tree, and it coppices readily, so cutting it back hard for wood is compatible with how the tree grows rather than fighting it. Every part is toxic in enough quantity - the essential oil can cause respiratory failure in children and is absorbed through intact skin - so handling and dosage both matter.