Litsea cubeba
Branch with leaves and flowers
Litsea cubeba is a species of the laurel family, forming shrubs or small trees. The natural range is in South and Southeast Asia. The flowers, leaves and fruits citral is made.
Description
Litsea cubeba is deciduous shrubs and trees that can reach a height of 8 to 10 meters. The branches are hairy or bald silky. The deciduous leaves are arranged. The petiole is 6-20 mm long and glabrous. The leaf blade is lanceolate, oblong or elliptic, 4-11 cm long and 1.1 to 2.4 inches wide. Young leaves are hairy Glauk and silky on the bottom. Full-grown leaves are hairy on both sides glabrous or silky on the underside of leaves. The leaf base is wedge-shaped, the blade tip pointed or tapered. There shall be six to 16 pairs of nerves.
As inflorescences are formed in individual or groups growing clusters of four to six flowers that bloom before or with the expulsion of the leaves. The flower stalk is 2-10 mm long, recurved or straight, glabrous or silky hairy. Male flowers have six tepals broadly ovate and nine fertile stamens. The stamens are hairy below the middle, the stamens of the third whorl have at the base of two short -stalked glands. The rudimentary trained stylus is bald.
The fruits are round and have a diameter of about 5 millimeters. They turn black when ripe. The fruit stalk is 2-4 mm long.
Litsea cubeba blooms from March to April, the fruits ripen in July and August.
Distribution and ecology
The natural range of the species is in the south and southeast of Asia. In China they are found at altitudes 300-3200 m in the provinces of Anhui, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Sichuan, Yunnan, Zhejiang, Tibet Autonomous Region and Taiwan.
Systematics and history of research
Litsea cubeba is a species in the genus Litsea of the laurel family ( Lauraceae ). The species was in 1790 by Juan de Loureiro as Laurus cubeba firstdescribed ( basionym ), and thus the genus of laurels (Laurus ) assigned. Christian Hendrik Persoon introduced in 1807 as Litsea cubeba the way to the genus Litsea.
There are two varieties:
- Litsea cubeba var cubeba: twigs, buds, leaf both sides and the cones are smooth. The variety grows on sunny slopes, in thickets and open woods, along roads and near bodies of water. The natural range is in the south and south-east Asia, Taiwan and China in the provinces of Anhui, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Sichuan, Yunnan, Zhejiang and Tibet Autonomous Region.
- Litsea cubeba var formosana ( Nakai ) Yen C. Yang & PH Huang: The branches, buds, the underside of the leaves and the cones are hairy silky. The distribution area is located in Taiwan and China, in Fujian province, north of Guangdong, Jiangxi and southern Zhejiang.
Use
The wood of the variety cubeba is used for the manufacture of furniture and as a timber. The flowers, leaves and fruits are processed into citral and used because of their fragrances. The core of the fruit contains approximately 62 percent of the oil that is used industrially. Roots, branches, leaves and fruits are used medicinally against swelling and pain.