Mr. J. Miers on the Canellacese. 347 



folia alterna obovata vel ohlonga^ coriacea, juniora pellucido- 

 punctata, glabra, integerrima, superne nitida, petiolata, exsti- 

 pulata : inflorescentia terminalis, corymbosa, tloribus subparvisy 

 aibido-violaceis. 



1. Canella alba, Murray, Linn. Syst. iv.443 ; P. Brown, Jam. 275. 

 tab. 27. fig. 3; Catesby, Carol, ii. tab. 50; Swartz, Linn. 

 Trans, i. 96. tab. 8; DC. Prodr. i. 563. Canella Winterana, 

 Gaertn. i. 377. tab. 77, Winterana canella, Linn. Sp. 636 ; 

 Lam. Diet. viii. 799. tab. 399 ; — arborea, 10-orgyalis et infra, 

 cortice griseo gusto cinnamomi donata; foliis oblongo-obo- 

 vatis, integerrimis, nitidis, crassiusculis, tenuiter anastomoso- 

 nervosis, pellucido-punctatis, vetustioribus opacis, subtus 

 pallidioribus, petiolo crassiusculo canaliculato ; corymbo ter- 

 minali folio sub-breviori ; pedicellis flore sequilongis, petalis 

 violaceo-albis. — In Antillanis. — v, s. in herb, e Jamaica, Cuba, 

 et viv. in hort. Kew. cult.^ 



This tree, of which a history has been given in a preceding 

 page, seems to have been confounded to this day with a kind of 

 Cinnamodendron presently to be described. I am led to believe, 

 that the true Canella alba grows chiefly in the forests of the 

 mountains of Jamaica, where its upright trunk attains a height 

 of 50 or 60 feet, with terminal abundant foliage; while the 

 Cinnamodendron just alluded to rises in the plains, forming a 

 branching shrubby tree, from 10 to 15 feet in height. It re- 

 mains to be seen whether the Canella described as existing in the 

 Bermudas and other West India Islands be identical with it, or 

 whether it be a distinct species. The specimens I have seen 

 from the island of Cuba appear specifically the same as those 

 from Jamaica. The bark taken off the branches for commercial 

 purposes is double, the outer one being grey, and of the thick- 

 ness of a shilling, while the inner bark, sought after by drug- 

 gists, under the name of cortex Canella alb(2, is double that 

 thickness, of a paler colour, and of a more pungent and aro- 

 matic taste. The leaves are about 5 inches long, \\ inch broad, 

 on a petiole about 4 lines in length. The corymb, much branched, 

 seldom exceeds 1 or IJ inch in length; the pedicels are 3 lines 

 long ; the orbicular sepals 2 lines in diameter ; the petals about 

 3 lines long ; the staminal tube about the same length ; the 20 

 anther- cells, little more than a line long, are equidistant from 

 each other, separated by a very narrow interval, and open by a 

 medial line along their whole length. The berry is oval, about 

 5 lines long and 4 lines in diameter; it generally bears 2 to 4 



* A figure of this species, with structural details, will be given in plate 

 23 A. of the ' Contributions to Botany.' 



