Camphor Oil

#### Camphor Oil. The group of Camphor Oils ranges high in quantity produced among the "upper ten" of all the essential oils in the world, but their use in perfumes and flavors is limited. Among the many types of so-called Camphor Oils, only the most important ones should be mentioned in this work: A crude essential oil is produced by steam distillation of the wood from a number of varieties of the camphor tree, **Cinnamomum Camphora**. Distillation takes place locally, often in primitive apparatus. In Japan and Formosa, the individual varieties of the above tree yield either **"True"**** ****Camphor**** ****Oil **or **Ho Oil **(see monographs). In China, the most common variety of **Cinnamomum**** ****Camphora**** **will yield an essential oil which consists mainly of cineole, and which accordingly is rectified and sold as "eucalyptus oil" at a price that makes competition from Australia, Africa, and Spain hopeless. Terpineol is a by-product of the oil from this Chinese camphor tree, and Chinese (isolated) terpineol is now appearing on the world market in increasing quantities (see **Apopin Oil).** In the following monograph, only true camphor oil will be described. **(Ho**** ****Oil**** **is described under its proper name, and the cineole-terpineol type of Chinese camphor tree oil is mentioned under Eucalyptus **Oil, **"false", or Chinese). The three varieties of Camphor Oils could be distinguished as follows: **Formosan**** ****Camphor**** ****Oils**** **= camphor-linalool type and camphor-safrole type. **Japanese**** ****Camphor**** ****Oil**** **= camphor-safrole type. **Chinese**** ****Camphor**** ****Oil**** **= cineole-terpineolcamphor type (see **Apopin**** ****Oil**). In Formosa, the camphor-safrole type as well as the camphor-linalool type are produced, the former being the largest in quantity.