Camphor Tree Cinnamomum camphora
University of Florida, IFAS, Center for Aquatic and Invasive Plants	St. Johns River Water Management District

The camphor tree (Cinnamomum camphora), also known as camphor laurel, is an exotic that has been widely cultivated for more than a century as a shade and ornamental tree in Florida and elsewhere. This is the aromatic tree from which camphor was derived (used in medicines and mothballs), until camphor oil began to be made artificially in the 1920s. The camphor quickly grows into a good-looking shade tree which is frequented by berry-eating birds. Camphor laurel is native to China and Japan where it has been commercially used for its timber and essential oils for hundreds of years.


Recently, land managers have come to realize that, outside China and Japan, camphor trees grow like weeds, infesting forests and displacing native trees. This is because camphor trees are prolific seed producers that do not have serious predators or diseases outside their native range. Here is a picture of a forest near the Ocklawaha River in north Florida, where camphor trees marked with ribbons outnumber the native trees. Camphor trees are also taking over forests in Australia, where they were introduced in the early 1800s.


Since camphor trees are easily spread by birds from cultivated yards to open forests, then homeowners will have to join the management effort by removing camphor trees from their property. Camphor trees continue to be sold in plant nurseries, although it is listed on the FLEPPC (Florida Exotic Pest Plant Council) list of Category I species that are invading and disrupting native plant communities in Florida.


How To Identify Camphor Trees


The camphor tree is a broad-leaved evergreen that is often twice as wide as it is tall. It grows to 50-to-100 feet tall. Where trees are present, the ground is often well-populated with camphor seedlings or small trees; of course this is when they are easiest to control.


A quick way to identify camphor is to crush some leaves in order to smell the pungent camphor odor. Camphor trees are densely covered with shiny oval and elliptical leaves, up to 5 inches long. Young leaves are reddish. In spring, the tree grows 3-inch spikes of very small yellowish-white flowers, which are soon replaced by black pea-sized berries. Camphors grow either in full sun or light shade, and prefer well-drained, sandy soil.


For more information and pictures about camphor tree, as contained in the Langeland/Burks book, Identification & Biology of Non-Native Plants in Florida's Natural Areas, download this Acrobat .PDF file.


Here is information about "Current Control Technologies" for camphor tree.


One camphor-eradication effort is underway in part of the Ocala National Forest. Here, Bob Dyksterhouse of the Florida Conservation Lodge Foundation's Ocklawaha Prairie Project, points out the girdling and herbicide treatment that was necessary to kill this 100-year-old tree. The FCLF processes dead camphor trees into mulch for use as landscaping material.

The Center for Aquatic and Invasive Plants and the St. Johns River Water Management District are jointly surveying the spread of, as well as determining the cost of eliminating, camphor trees from District-owned lands, where it is quickly invading some of Florida's few remaining virgin forests and wetlands.

The UF/IFAS Assessment lists plants according to their invasive status in Florida. View the list here.

Click here to see the herbarium specimen image of the UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA HERBARIUM DIGITAL IMAGING PROJECTS.

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