Dilip Walse Patil

Scientific Name : Camphora officinarum Nees

Category : Angiosperms

Status : Alive

C. camphora in open habitats is a large evergreen tree with a stout, uniformly cylindrical bole and dense, symmetrical crown. In its native habitat it attains a height of 20-30 m with wide spreading branches and a trunk 50-100 cm in diameter (Dewey, 1897), although in China it can reach up to 50 m tall with a dbh of 300 cm. In India and Nepal the ranges from 50 to 300 cm, and in subtropical eastern Australia up to 200 cm. When young,the bark is green and smooth, later it turns yellow-brown or grey-brown with vertical splitting. The root system is dominant in the top 50 cm of soil The inflorescence is axillary, paniculate, glabrous, pedunculate, shorter than leaves, the bracts caducous. Flowers are bisexual, membranous, linear, soft-pubescent. The perianth segments are about 1.5 mm long, yellow-green and elliptic. The globular fruit is 7-8 mm wide and purplish-black