Laurineae
A natural order of aromatic, sometimes foetid, trees or shrubs (except Cassytha, which is a twining herb), natives, for the most part, of tropical regions. Flowers greenish or yellow, small, sometimes minute, often cymose, umbellate, or capitate. Leaves alternate or scattered, rarely opposite, coriaceous and evergreen, rarely membranaceous and annual, often (except Hernandia) glandular-dotted, feather-veined, or more or less distinctly three to five-nerved, between the veins often thickly reticulate, undivided or rarely two or three-lobed, the rest entire. Laurineae secrete a pungent volatile oil in the bark and glands of the leaves and flowers. Laurus nobilis, a South European tree, is the Victor's Laurel or Sweet Bay, the leaves of which have a pleasant scent and an acrid and aromatic taste; they are used as a flavouring. Cinnamomum officinale yields the Cinnamon-bark of commerce. Camphora officinarum, a native of China, Japan, and Cochin China, furnishes Camphor, a concrete, volatile, colourless oil, with a penetrating odour, and an acrid but cooling taste. The woods of many of the Laurineae are particularly useful to cabinet-makers and turners, being of a fine and solid tissue. There are about thirty-four genera and 900 species. Well-known examples are: Camphora, Cinnamomum, Laurus, Persea, and Sassafras.