Spec. Plant. Willd. ii. 477. Cl. 9. Ord. 1. Enneandria Monogynia. Nat. ord. Laurineae. G. 798. Calyx none. Corolla calycine, six parted. Nectary of three two-bristled glands, surrounding the germen. Filaments interior, glanduliferous. Drupe one-seeded. Sp.l. L. Cinnamomum. The Cinnamon-tree. Mat. Med. 3d edit.

670. t. 223. Percival's Account of Ceylon, 4to. 346-350. Sp. 2. L. Cassia. The Cassia-tree. Carua, Rheede, Hort. Malabar, i. p. 107. t. 59. Herb. Amb. ii. 65. t. 14. Sp. 3. L. Camphora. The Camphor Laurel. Mat. Med. 3d edit.

681. t, 236. Michaux, North American Sylva, vol. i. pl. 83. Sp. 10. L. nobilis. Common Sweet Bay. Med. Pot. 3d edit. 678.

t. 235. Sp. 34. L. Sassafras. Sassafras Laurel. Med. Pot. 3d edit. t. 234.

North American Sylva, vol. ii. fol. 61.

1. Laurus Cinnamomum.3

Officinal. Cinnamomi cortex, Edin. Cinnamomi oleum, Lond. Lauri Cinnamomi cortex, Edin. Cinnamomum; cortex, oleum volatile, Dub. Cinnamon, and Oil of Cinnamon.

Syn. Canelle (F.), Kanohl ( G.), Kaneel(D).), Caneel (Dan.), Ackta Canel (Swed.), Canella(I.), Canela (S.), Kurundu (Cyng.), Darchinie (H.), Darcasita (San.), Karruwa Puttay (Tarn.), Canella vulgar (Port.), Kayu-manis (Malay), Darsini (Arab.).

1 Journ. Gen. de Med. t. xi. p. 232.

2 Joum. Univ. de Sci. Med. t. 47. p. 127.

Laurus Cinnamon 219

Dioscoricus. The Malays call cinnamon kayu-manis, which is sometimes pronounced as if it were written kaina-manis, which Mr. Marshall supposes to have been the original of the ancient Greek name kinnamomon, which, however, Scaliger (Not. in Garz.) derives from the Hebrew kinamon. Burman has withdrawn the cinnamons from the genus laurus, and constituted them a new genus, Cinnamomum; he named the above species C. Zeylaaicum. Sprengel names it Persea Cinnamomum; Syst. Veg, ii. 263.

The cinnamon tree is a native of Ceylon1, growing in great abundance in many parts of the island, particularly near Colombo. It also grows plentifully in Malabar, Cochin China, Sumatra, Tonquin, the eastern islands, and the Chinese province of Quangsi. It has been cultivated in the Brazils, Egypt, the isles of Bourbon and the Mauritius, Tobago, and other places. France is partly supplied from Guiana, where it was introduced in 1755. The soil in which it thrives best is nearly pure quartz sand. That of the cinnamon garden, near Colombo, was found by Dr. J. Davy to consist of 98.5 of siliceous sand, and 1.0 only of vegetable matter, in 100 parts. "The garden is nearly on a level with the lake of Colombo : its situation is sheltered; the climate is remarkably damp; showers are frequent, and the temperature is high and uncommonly equable."2 Marshall informs us that beyond Negombo and Matura, the bark is never good, and that no plant varies more from soil, shade, and culture than the cinnamon. The tree seldom rises above thirty feet in height; has a slender branching trunk covered with a brown ash-coloured cuticle, which is often speckled with dark-green and light orange in the young shoots. From the root spring a number of suckers, which form a bush round the trunk.

The leaves, which stand in opposite pairs on short, slightly channelled petioles, are from four to nine inches in length, oblong, pointed, tri or quinquenerved; when young, scarlet or pale liver-coloured, with yellow veins, but afterwards of a dark green colour on the upper disk, glaucous on the under; and have a spicy odour and a hot taste when rubbed and chewed. The flowers, which appear in January, are white or pale yellow and inodorous, in lax axillary and terminal panicles. The calyx is pubescent, with six deep divisions : the petals are oval, pointed, concave, and spreading, longer than the filaments, which are in ternaries, flattish, erect, and the three innermost glanduliferous at the base; and the anthers are double. The fruit is an oval or ovoid drupe, resembling a small acorn, adhering to the receptacle, with the apex depressed, and the pulp fleshy, enclosing a small nut. It has a terebinthine odour, and a taste not unlike that of the juniper berry.

1 Notwithstanding the jealousy of the Dutch, the cinnamon-tree, long before the British obtained possession of Ceylon, was cultivated at the Isle of France, in several parts of India, Jamaica, and some other of the West India Islands. Mr. Miller first cultivated it in this country in 1768; and a plant of it has regularly flowered and ripened seed in the hot-house of the Bishop of Winchester, at Farnham, for several years past.

2 Davy's Account of the Interior of Ceylon, 4 to. p. 39.

There are several varieties of the cinnamon tree known at Ceylon. Seba enumerates ten; but the four following only are said to be barked:-1. Honey, sharp, sweet, or royal cinnamon (rase curundu, in the language of the natives), which is the finest sort; 2. Snake cinnamon (nai curundu), similar to the first; 3. Camphorated cinnamon (capura curundu), so named from its having the odour of camphor, and the root yielding camphor by distillation; and 4. Bitter astringent cinnamon (cahatte curundu), which has smaller leaves than the former varieties.1 The trees that grow in the valleys, in a white sandy soil, are fit to be barked when four or five years old; but those in a wet soil, or in shady places, require to be eight or nine years of age. The bark is good for nothing if the tree be older than eighteen years. The tree was formerly propagated by a species of pigeon, that ate the fruit, and voided the seed; but since the time of Falck, one of the Dutch governors, who, about the middle of the eighteenth century, raised it from berries sown in his garden, it has been regularly cultivated.

The barking, particularly in the vicinity of Negombo and Matura, commences early in May, and continues until late in October. The chaliahs, or people who perform it, are under native officers, called cinnamon moodeliars2, who are answerable for the quantity barked. Branches of three years old are selected, and lopped off with a priming-knife or bill-hook, called a ketta. To remove the bark, a longitudinal incision is made through it on both sides of the shoot, so that it can be gradually loosened, and taken off entire; the epidermis and green matter between it and the inner bark are carefully scraped off; so that the bark speedily dries, contracts, and rolls itself up, forming hollow cylinders. The bark is not, however, immediately scraped, but tied up in bundles, and allowed to remain for twenty-four hours, by which a fermentation is produced that facilitates the separation of the epidermis, which, with the green pulpy matter under it, is then carefully scraped off. . The bark having now assumed the quilled form, the smaller pieces are put within the larger.1 The cinnamon, when dry, is tied up in bundles of 30 lbs. weight, and carried to the government storehouse, where the quality is determined by inspection of the bundles.