Cinnamomum camphora is a subtropical tree species, mainly distributed in the south of the Yangtze River, and it is an evergreen tall tree of Catalpa in Lauraceae. Flowers in early summer, yellow-green, panicle, broad crown, lush foliage, shady everywhere, magnificent momentum, is an excellent street tree and shade tree. Cinnamomum camphora has the characteristics of temperature resistance, corrosion resistance and insect repellent because of its special aroma and volatile oil. It is an ideal wood for making expensive furniture, high-grade buildings, shipbuilding and sculpture. Camphor for daily use is a white crystal extracted from the roots, stems, branches and leaves of camphor tree. It has a cool fragrance and is used to prevent moth. It is also widely used in medicine and chemical industry.
In the folk, people often regard Cinnamomum camphora as a landscape tree and a geomantic tree, which means avoiding evil spirits, longevity and good luck. Cinnamomum camphora is favored by the majority of urban and rural residents, and it has been selected as a "city tree" in cities such as Hangzhou, Yiwu and Maanshan.
Cinnamomum camphora is very distinctive, its bark is rough, but its texture is very uniform, and there has never been mottled poplar or tumor of willow. The branch is divided into two and two into four. They won't cut corners or gild the lily. The crown is spherical in shape, drawing a beautiful curve in the sky. Zhangshu is the calligraphy of Dongpo, Su Like. Round and continuous, handsome and elegant, but quite satisfactory. If it is a hillside full of camphor trees, it is simply a peerless monument of Su Dongpo. Therefore, people who study art like to use camphor tree as the object of sketch. What is even more rare is that camphor tree has a special fragrance, which can repel insects, and gardeners hardly need to spray pesticides. These two days in Jiangxi, which is famous for its camphor trees, I feasted my eyes, which greatly satisfied my special hobby of lack of human nature. There are camphor trees everywhere in Jiangxi, and there are many old trees over 500 to 600 years old, scattered in villages, rivers and hilltops.
Cycas, also known as Cycas and Phoenix-tailed Banana. Gymnosperms, Cycadaceae. An evergreen tree with a single stem and no branches. Large pinnate compound leaves, clustered stems, 0.5 to 2.4 meters long, thick leathery and hard leaflets, strip-shaped feathers, as long as 18 cm, and the edges are obviously rolled back. Dioecious, the male cone is cylindrical and the male cone is at the top. The female cone is composed of many pinnate megaspore leaves, yellow-brown, with ovules at the edge. It usually blooms in July-August. In the tropics, it can bloom every year after reaching a certain age, but it is not common in temperate regions. Generally, Cycas can bloom in 20 to 30 years, and once every 60 years. The seeds are oval and hot vermilion.
Habit: like warm and humid climate, not cold-resistant, vulnerable at 0 degrees Celsius. The growth rate is slow and the life span can reach more than 200 years.
Cycas are native to the tropics. Gardens are widely planted in Fujian, Guangdong, Taiwan Province, India and Japan. There is a natural iron forest with about 50,000 plants in Panzhihua (Dukou) City, Sichuan Province, which is the largest known iron forest in China. This is a beautiful ornamental tree. The pith of the stem is rich in starch and can be eaten. Seeds contain oil and starch, and are slightly toxic. They are used in food and medicine, and have the functions of treating dysentery, relieving cough and stopping bleeding.
There are 17 kinds of cycads in the world, which are distributed in tropical and subtropical areas such as East Asia and Southeast Asia, Oceania and Madagascar. There are 8 species of China, which are produced in Taiwan Province, Guangdong, Hainan, Fujian, Guangxi, Yunnan, Sichuan and other provinces. Such as Cycas South China, Cycas Hainan, Cycas Yunnan, Cycas Taiwan, Cycas Liposa, Cycas Sichuan, Cycas Fork, etc.