Definition of "camphor tree" [camphor tree]

• An east Asian evergreen tree (Cinnamomum camphora) naturalized and cultivated as an ornamental in the southern United States, having aromatic wood and leathery leaves that are a source of camphor. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "The Chinese took some prisoners, whom they slew mercilessly, and one of the first things I saw on the morning of the 19th was a pair of corpses suspended by the feet from the branches of a huge camphor tree near the parade-ground."