Ho drvo

The camphor tree is an evergreen tree native to warm temperate to subtropical East Asia, including China and Taiwan. The tree reaches 20 to 30 m in height, with glossy, waxy leaves that smell of camphor when crushed. In spring it bears masses of very small white fragrant flowers, which gave it the Chinese name xiang zhang, "smells good tree".

The wood and leaves of the tree are steam distilled for the essential oils. The leaf oil is called ho leaf oil, the wood oil ho wood oil, and the mixture of both shiu oil.

Camphor laurel has six chemotypes: camphor, linalool, 1,8-cineole, nerolidol, safrole and borneol. The linalool type is commonly found in Taiwan and Japan, and its oil contains 80–85% linalool. Linalool-type trees are common in Jiangxi Province and have also been identified in Fujian Province. In a survey of 974 trees from 35 populations in 13 Chinese provinces, 140 were of the linalool type. In one batch of ho wood oil, linalool made up 98.7% and other components 1.3%. Ho leaf oil contains up to 80% linalool and no free crystalline camphor.

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