Guest guest Posted April 13, 2007 Report Share Posted April 13, 2007 The last book I'm reading, Dragon's Brain Perfume: An Historical Geography of Camphor by R.A. Donkin presents lots of neat info on various camphor species from past to present. Things I found nifty: 'Dragon's Brain Perfume' is a name the Chinese used to call the best camphors. Camphor and musk appear as complementary (!!) components in many ancient documents as perfume or incense. True camphor (Cinnamomum camphora)is scientifically described as dextro- camphor (C10 H16 O2). As early as the 13th century true camphor had the reputation of igniting while floating on water. (?!) A false kind of camphor can be obtained from a white/translucent, siliceous concretion found in the joints of certain bamboos. The Sandskrit word 'Karpura' is thought to be the etymology for most Indo-Aryan forms of 'camphor'. iel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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