A few Observations on the Camphor and Camphor-oil Content of <I>Cinnamomum camphora</I> Found in West Bengal

Abstract

The leaf and the wood samples of Cinnamomum camphora growing at Sibpur (Calcutta) and Chunabhati (district Darjeeling), West Bengal, were analysed for their camphor and camphor-oil content. The physical and chemical properties of the distillates were also determined. The yield of total distillate ( by weight of the moisture-free material) from the trees at Sibpur was 1.236% from leaf and 4.884% to 5.224% from wood, of which 34.34% to 55. 66% was camphor. Those growing at Chunabhati gave a higher yield of 2.859% from airdry leaf, of which about 80% was camphor. As the camphor content of these leaves was more than I. 6% of the dry material, excluding even the dissolved fraction ( of which a large part is recoverable ), they promise, on multiplication, to be an economic source of this product since about one per cent of camphor in leaf is considered in Japan to be commercially profitable for distillation. A short account of the germination and growth habits of this species raised from seeds in the laterite and the loamy soil, respectively, of Arabari (district Midnapore) and Sukna (district Darjeeling) during 1953-54 has also been included.