The Camphor Conundrum

In the late 19th century, much of Florida was still wilderness – but that was about to change. Soon, “forward-thinking” entrepreneurs would begin damming Okeechobee, draining the Everglades, and cutting down pine forests as they tried out Florida’s land for farming. Food crops like strawberries, tomatoes, and citrus quickly became mainstays of Florida settlers, but others had more ambitious ideas – ideas that didn’t always quite work out. One such failed experiment was the planting of Camphor tree plantations.

Camphor (Cinnamomum camphorum) trees are native to East Asia, and were brought here to be cultivated for the oil they produce, which has medicinal properties (something you know if you've ever put Campho-Phenique on a mosquito bite or cold sore; a very easy way to identify this tree is to crush and smell the leaves, as the camphor odor is unmistakable). Farmers found it wasn't really commercially viable here - the tree only grows half as tall as it does in its native region, and China and Japan had really cornered the market already anyway.

Even though the tree didn’t grow very tall, it did grow prolifically, and many found it attractive. The tree gradually shifted to being sold for residential use, and now you'll find some in most neighborhoods throughout the state. It is a deciduous tree, but it does not lose its old leaves until it's already grown new ones, leaving you with a pretty mix of new spring green and older growth dark green leaves for a few weeks. At the same time it produces new leaves, it begins to flower, followed by a profusion of black berries later in the year.

And it’s those black berries that cause all the trouble. Birds find them to be irresistible, and gorge on them each spring. The fleshy part of the berries is digested, but the seeds inside pass through the bird in its droppings, landing back on the ground in a new place. And just about wherever those seeds land, they grow – and fast. Camphor trees displace native species, to the extent that Cinnamomum camphor has been made a Category I species on the Florida Exotic Pest Plant Council (FLEPPC) list of invasive species. According to the Center for Aquatic and Invasive plants, in Polk county the camphor tree is pushing out the native Florida jujube (Ziziphus celatus). Responsible Florida gardeners should avoid adding Camphor tree to their landscape.

But what about the camphor trees we already have? BioWorks has several, and they’re actually valuable to us. Camphor, it turns out, works as a host plant for one of our native butterflies, the Spicebush Swallowtail (Papilio troilus). As their name implies, the native host plant of this butterfly is Spicebush (Lindera benzoin), along with Red Bay (Persia borbonia) and several other trees. But they do well on camphor, too, and we use it regularly to feed our Spicebush Swallowtail larvae in the lab. If you have a camphor tree on your property, chances are good you’ll see Spicebush Swallowtails visiting it to lay eggs. After all the work butterfly gardeners do to lure butterflies to their yard, it’s hard to cut down and remove a species that seems to be such a draw for them.

So, we find ourselves in a conundrum. This tree has a lot of value for butterfly gardeners, but it’s harmful to the ecosystem otherwise. What’s a Florida-Friendly gardener to do? At BioWorks, we’re keeping the trees for now, though if we had the chance to remove them and replace them with a better native species, we most likely would. This tree is not prohibited for sale or planting in Florida, but obviously we don’t recommend that you add new camphor trees to your landscape. As for your existing camphor tree(s)? That’s a decision you have to make for yourself.