charcoal in Southern China. It also yields turpentine and resin. Young saplings, removed from plantations as thinnings, are used as Christmas trees.
8.
Camphor Tree (Cinnamomum camphora)
This handsome tree, with a dense crown of shining dark-green leaves, one of the finest shade trees in the Colony, is native to Eastern Asia and is now cultivated in most tropical and subtropical regions. The leaves are oval, somewhat white below, and have three main veins extending upwards from the base. When crushed, they give a strong smell of camphor. In April, small pale yellow flowers grow in short clusters from leaf axils, succeeded by small, black, fleshy one-seeded fruits. In Formosa, the main source of supply, camphor is obtained by cutting the wood into small chips and submitting these to a process of sublimation through steam. It is used in various ways, as an ingredient in celluloid and as a valuable drug in medicine. In recent years the production of camphor from turpentine has severely affected the market of the natural product. The wood of the camphor tree is much used for making chests and furniture not only because of its beauty but because of its insect repellent properties. This tree is of slow growth and there are some splendid groves of it in the New Territories, especially in the neighbourhood of villages in the Lam Tsuen valley.
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