''Ocotea odorifera'' is a species of

plant Plants are predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all current definitions of Plantae exclud ...

in the family

Lauraceae Lauraceae, or the laurels, is a plant family that includes the true laurel and its closest relatives. This family comprises about 2850 known species in about 45 genera worldwide (Christenhusz & Byng 2016 ). They are dicotyledons, and occur ma ...

. It is an

evergreen In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has foliage that remains green and functional through more than one growing season. This also pertains to plants that retain their foliage only in warm climates, and contrasts with deciduous plants, which ...

tree in the genus ''

Ocotea ''Ocotea'' is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Lauraceae. Many are evergreen trees with lauroid leaves. There are over 520 species currently accepted within the genus, distributed mostly in tropical and subtropical areas of ...

''. It is commonly known as Brazilian sassafras or American cinnamon; though it is not a true

sassafras ''Sassafras'' is a genus of three extant and one extinct species of deciduous trees in the family Lauraceae, native to eastern North America and eastern Asia.Wolfe, Jack A. & Wehr, Wesley C. 1987. The sassafras is an ornamental tree. "Middle Eoc ...

nor a true

cinnamon Cinnamon is a spice obtained from the inner bark of several tree species from the genus ''Cinnamomum''. Cinnamon is used mainly as an aromatic condiment and flavouring additive in a wide variety of cuisines, sweet and savoury dishes, breakfa ...

, these plants are close relatives. In trade, the

junior synonym The Botanical and Zoological Codes of nomenclature treat the concept of synonymy differently. * In botanical nomenclature, a synonym is a scientific name that applies to a taxon that (now) goes by a different scientific name. For example, Linna ...

''Ocotea pretiosa'' is often used, and there is considerable confusion between the present

taxon In biology, a taxon (back-formation from ''taxonomy''; plural taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular nam ...

and ''

Ocotea cymbarum ''Ocotea cymbarum'' is a species of ''Ocotea'' in the plant family Lauraceae. It is an evergreen tree found in Brazil, Colombia, French Guiana, Guyana, Suriname, and Venezuela. Medical uses The essential oils from ''Ocotea cymbarum'' are oft ...

''.

Distribution

It is native to

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

, in the states of

Bahia Bahia ( , , ; meaning "bay") is one of the 26 Federative units of Brazil, states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo (sta ...

Minas Gerais Minas Gerais () is a state in Southeastern Brazil. It ranks as the second most populous, the third by gross domestic product (GDP), and the fourth largest by area in the country. The state's capital and largest city, Belo Horizonte (literally ...

, Paraná, Rio de Janeiro,

Rio Grande do Sul Rio Grande do Sul (, , ; "Great River of the South") is a Federative units of Brazil, state in the South Region, Brazil, southern region of Brazil. It is the Federative_units_of_Brazil#List, fifth-most-populous state and the List of Brazilian st ...

, Santa Catarina, and São Paulo. It may also be native to Misiones province of Argentina and to Paraguay, but is unverified there. It is threatened by

habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss and habitat reduction) is the process by which a natural habitat becomes incapable of supporting its native species. The organisms that previously inhabited the site are displaced or dead, thereby ...

Gallery

Image:Ocotea odorifera - Jardim Botânico de São Paulo - IMG 0329.jpg, Tree Image:Ocotea odorifera - Jardim Botânico de São Paulo - IMG 0330.jpg, Leaves Image:Ocotea odorifera - Jardim Botânico de São Paulo - IMG 0275.jpg, Seeds

References

External links

{{Taxonbar, from=Q5223300 odorifera Trees of Brazil Flora of the Atlantic Forest Flora of Bahia Flora of Minas Gerais Flora of Paraná (state) Flora of Rio de Janeiro (state) Flora of Rio Grande do Sul Flora of Santa Catarina (state) Flora of São Paulo (state) Vulnerable flora of South America Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Taxobox binomials not recognized by IUCN