cough drops

There is a camphor tree by the back door of the house. The camphor tree is interesting because of its scent. Break a twig or crush a leaf and it smells like a cough drop. I guess that this must be where the camphor flavoring for cough drops comes from. It is currently bearing fruit which are falling on the ground. Here are some of the berries.

You can see the green stem that attaches the berry to the tree. When the berries fall off the tree, the place of attachment leaves a light colored scar just like acorns. I tried squashing one of the berries to see what was inside.

There was a hard seed inside which came out easily. The fruit of the berry seems to be pretty fleshy and moist.

I haven't see any birds eating the berries yet. I smelled of the squashed berry and it smelled like.........yeah, you guessed it, it smelled like a cough drop. Probably good for birds with a sore throat but no wonder the birds haven't been eating the berries. I just thought that this camphor tree was rather unique in the world of trees with its cough drop smell. Have a pleasant day. Lew