Hinoki Oil Essential Oil

The Chaecyparis obtusa or “Korean Hinoki”, locally known as “Pyunbaek”, belongs to the Cupressaceae family. It is native to South Korea and Japan and it grows profusely in the Jangheung area, in the mountain named Chukreong in South Korea. It is an evergreen needle-leaved arboreous tree with an upright trunk that grows up to 30-40m in height and 1.5m in diameter. The bark is reddish brown, smooth, split vertically and peeled off in a long lobe. The branches are slender and spread horizontally. The canopy is narrow pyramidal when young but becomes conical or ovate when mature. The leaves are scaleshaped and alternate, the upper surface is dark green, and the lower surface has Y-shaped white stomata lines. The end of the leaf is blunt. Female flowers are 0.3 to 0.5cm long and spherical. The fruit (conifer) is 0.8-1.2cm in diameter, spherical, and ripens in reddish brown. Flowers bloom in April, and fruits ripen in October. The Hinoki tree is exceptionally famous for its phytoncide component in East Asia. Although both Japanese and Korean Hinoki trees share the same Latin name, with the different climates and environments of each country, the chemical composition and the shape of the trees are different. Hinoki essential oil can be obtained both from the leaves and from the wood, with different composition depending on the part of the plant used.