''Dryobalanops aromatica'', commonly known as Borneo camphor, camphor tree, Malay camphor, or Sumatran camphor, is a species of plant in the family

Dipterocarpaceae Dipterocarpaceae is a family (biology), family of flowering plants with 22 genera and about 695 known species of mainly lowland tropical forest trees. Their distribution is pantropical, from northern South America to Africa, the Seychelles, India ...

. The species name ''aromatica'' is derived from

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

(''aromaticus'' meaning spice-like) and refers to the smell of the

dammar Dammar, also called dammar gum, or damar gum, is a resin obtained from the tree family Dipterocarpaceae in India and Southeast Asia, principally those of the genera '' Shorea'' or '' Hopea'' (synonym ''Balanocarpus''). The resin of some species o ...

(resin). This species was one of the main sources of

camphor Camphor () is a waxy, colorless solid with a strong aroma. It is classified as a terpenoid and a cyclic ketone. It is found in the wood of the camphor laurel (''Cinnamomum camphora''), a large evergreen tree found in East Asia; and in the kapu ...

and attracted early Arab traders to Borneo, at that time being worth more than gold, and used for incense and perfumes. It is found in

Sumatra Sumatra () is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the list of islands by area, sixth-largest island in the world at 482,286.55 km2 (182,812 mi. ...

, peninsular Malaysia, and

Borneo Borneo () is the List of islands by area, third-largest island in the world, with an area of , and population of 23,053,723 (2020 national censuses). Situated at the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, it is one of the Greater Sunda ...

. It is a large emergent tree, up to 65 m or even 75 m tall, found in mixed dipterocarp forests on deep humic yellow sandy soils. It is a heavy hardwood sold under the trade names of Kapur. It is recorded from at least two protected areas ( Lambir and

Gunung Mulu Mount Mulu () is a sandstone and shale mountain. At 2376 m, it is the second highest mountain in the state of Sarawak, after Mount Murud. It is located within the boundaries of Gunung Mulu National Park, which is named after it. History I ...

National Parks). Bergenin, malaysianol A, laevifonol, ampelopsin E, α-viniferin, ε-viniferin and diptoindonesin A can be isolated from the stem bark of ''D. aromatica''. ''Dryobalanops aromatica'' is one of several tree species known to exhibit a behavior called crown shyness.

References

aromatica Trees of Sumatra Trees of Peninsular Malaysia Dipterocarps of Borneo Flora of the Borneo lowland rain forests Flora of Sabah {{Dipterocarpaceae-stub