///This paper describes a new leaf record from the Pliocene of Yunnan, of material very similar in its leaf architecture and epidermal characters to the living species but not identical, and which the authors therefore refer to as C.cf.camphora. Amongst the many microscopic features of the epidermal cuticle, single celled trichomes [hairs] occur over the veins. The study of the trichome density in extant C.camphora from three collection localities (Kunming in Yunnan Province, Ninghai in Zhejiang Province and Wuhan in Hubei Province) shows that trichome density has a positive correlation with solar radiation intensity and a negative one with annual rainfall. Compared to its nearest living relative, C.camphora, the new fossil material had a higher trichome density, indicating that it probably grew under conditions of more intense sunlight in the Pliocene of central West Yunnan Province than exists there today.