Ocotea

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Ocotea
Ocotea foetens (Terra Chã, Azores).
Ocotea foetens (Terra Chã, Azores).
Plant Info
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Magnoliophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Laurales
Family: Lauraceae
Genus: Ocotea

Species
See text

Ocotea is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Lauraceae. The genus includes over 200 species of evergreen trees and shrubs, distributed mostly in tropical and subtropical regions of Central and South America, the West Indies, also with a few species in Africa and Madagascar, and one, Ocotea foetens (Til or Tilo), native to the islands of Macaronesia.

Selected species

Cultivation and uses

Plants of the genus produce essential oils, and O. cymbarum, Peruvian Rosewood (O. caudata), Brazilian Sassafras (O. pretiosa), and East African Camphorwood (O. usambarensis) are exploited commercially. A few species are harvested for commercial timber, including O. puberula of Central and South America and O. bullata, known as Black Stinkwood or True Stinkwood, of South Africa.

References