The genus Cinnamomum

220 K. Nirmal Babu, P.N. Ravindran and M. Shylaja
Taiwan (Formosan) camphor trees
There are four morphologically distinct varieties as well as species of camphor trees in
Taiwan. One of these (Kusunoki) is subdivided into three physiological forms.
1. Kusunoki (Cinnamomum camphora)
(i) Hon-Sho
(ii) Ho-Sho
(iii) Yu-Sho
2. Rau-Kusu (C. camphora var. nominale Hayata)
3. Sho-Gyu (C. kanahirai Hayata)
4. Obha-Kusu or Pha-Chium (C. micranthum Hayata)
The Hon-Sho (hon true, sho camphor tree) is the true camphor tree and the most
important, and is identical with the Japanese camphor tree. The Ho-Sho (ho fragrant)
oil contains linalool as an important ingredient, in addition to camphor. The rectified
oil from Ho-Sho became world famous as a source of linalool, which is used widely in
the perfume industry. This variety is later classified as C. camphora var. linaloolifera by
Fujita (1967, Fujita et al., 1973).
The Yu-Sho (Yu – oil, Sho – camphor tree) variety is found in China, but rarely in
Taiwan. The oil of this variety contains little camphor, hence the name camphor oil tree.
The oil contains a high percentage of cineole. This oil has no commercial prospects now,
and hence is not exploited. Rau-Kusu (C. camphora var. nominale) is morphologically a distinct
variety found in the drier parts of Taiwan. The oil resembles the Hon-Sho and Ho-Sho
varieties and is classified similarly. Its stumps regenerate profusely. Five distinct types of
oils have been reported containing 78% camphor, 59% cineole, 87% safrole, 85% linalool
and sesquinterpenes only. Sho-Gyu (C. kanahirai) resembles the true camphor tree in
appearance, except that the leaves are blackish and its bark lusterous. The essential oil
derived from the Sho-Gyu tree contains no camphor, its chief constituent is terpinen-4-ol.
Obha-Kusu (C. micranthum) has much larger leaves, the essential oil contains mainly safrole.
Hirota (1951) has designated the Formosan camphor trees as C. camphora spp.
formosana and distinguished seven chemical varieties under this (chemovars). They are:
chvar. borneol; chvar.cineole; chvar. camphor; chvar. linalool; chvar. safrole; chvar.
sesqunterpene and chvar. sesquiterpene alcohol (Tetenyi, 1974). The chvar. linalool
further consists of two chemical forms; ch forma 86% and ch forma 71% (of linalool)
(terminology proposed by Tetenyi, 1974).
The Formosan camphor industry developed almost in line with the Japanese camphor
industry and employs similar distillation procedures. The average yield of camphor
and camphor oil from the Formosan trees is given in Table 9.3. The average yield of
camphor and camphor oil from trees of different height is given in Table 9.4. The
content of camphor and camphor oil in the trunk decreases from ground level to the
top. It has also been shown that camphor and camphor oil accumulate more towards
the periphery of the trunk than in the centre.
The oils derived from Hon-Sho and the Ho-Sho trees yield the following main fractions
(Table 9.5): white oil (contains 25% cineole), the Ito oil (80–85% linalool), the brown
oil (50–60% safrole) and the terpineole (contains 70% -terpineol).
Prior to the Second World War Formosa had established large, more sophisticated
factories for the distillation of camphor wood. Production of synthetic camphor from