Oriental Garden

Gardens of the World Oriental Garden is placed between the Herbaceous Garden and White Garden with fantastic views of the New Zealand Garden, Lake and Amphitheatres. Due to the views and uniqueness of the trees and plants the Oriental Garden has become a very popular area for family photos, wedding photos and picnics.

Cinnamomum camphora tree commonly known as camphor tree, is a large evergreen tree that grows up to 20–30m tall. The leaves have a glossy, waxy appearance and smell of camphor when crushed. In spring it produces bright green foliage with masses of small white flowers. The cinnamomum camphora produces clusters of black berry like fruit around 1cm in diameter. It has a pale bark that is very rough and fissured vertically.

Camphor is a white crystalline substance obtained from the tree Cinnamomum camphora.

Camphor has been used for many centuries as a culinary spice, a component of incense and as a medicine. Camphor is also an insect repellent.

The camphor tree is native to Taiwan, southern Japan, Southeast China and Indochina, where it is cultivated for camphor and timber production. The production and shipment of camphor, in a solid, waxy form was a major industry in Taiwan from 1895 to 1945. It was also used medically as an important ingredient in the production of smokeless gun powder and celluloid.

This tree is native to central China and is small to medium in size. It has a short main trunk with several secondary trunks which are more or less upright. The bark is a shiny orange-red that peels in thin sheets. It is also polished and smoothed in places.

The summer foliage is 3 to 5cm long and is a soft blue-green with red over tones on exposed leave surfaces. The autumn foliage can be pronounced red but frequently is green with red over tones on the exposed leave surfaces. It has green inconspicuous flowers and has samaras 1.5-2cm long. This tree is somewhat expensive but is a good ornamental tree for small yards, specimen, mini-groves and edges of woods.

The Chinese parasol tree or wutong is an ornamental plant or tree of cacao or chocolate, of the family Sterculiacease of the order Malvales, native to Asia. The firmiana simplex tree grows to a height 12m. It has alternative deciduous leaves up to 30cm across and small greenish white flowers that are borne in clusters. It is grown as an ornamental in warm regions of North America. Due to its superior sonic properties, the wood is used for the soundboards of several Chinese instruments, including the guqin and guzheng.