Description

Camphor — Kapoor — is a waxy, translucent, strongly aromatic crystalline ketone (C₁₀H₁₆O) naturally obtained from the steam distillation of the wood and leaves of Cinnamomum camphora, the camphor laurel, a large evergreen tree of the family Lauraceae native to China, Japan, and Taiwan. In India, camphor is also obtained from Blumea balsamifera (Karpoorvati) through traditional distillation. An ancient luxury aromatic traded via the Silk Route from East Asia to India, the Middle East, and Europe for over a millennium, camphor appears in the Charaka Samhita as Karpura, in Ibn Sina’s Al-Qanun, and in medieval Chinese pharmacopoeias. In Ayurvedic pharmacy, camphor is incorporated in external analgesic preparations, aromatic fumigation, and Nasya (nasal) formulations. Classified as a controlled substance under some national regulations when sold in concentrated forms. Listed in multiple national pharmacopoeias.