342 REMARKS ON LAURUS CASSIA. 
confined to Ceylon and India proper; and that name, not 
being referrible to any one species, ought unquestionably to 
be expunged from botanical nomenclature, its longer continu- - 
ance there only tending to create confusion and uncertainty- 
This brings me to the next question—namely, what plant or 
plants yield the Cassia bark of commerce? | 
The foregoing explanation, in the course of which two - 
plants are referred to as yielding Cassia, greatly simplifies the — 
answer to this one. The first of these is the Malabar Carua 
figured by Rheede, the second Nees’ Cinnamomum aromaticum. — 
The list, however, of Cassia-producing plants is not limited to : 
these two, but I firmly believe extends to nearly every epe 
of the genus. A set of specimens, submitted for my examin- - 
ation, of the trees furnishing Cassia on the Malabar Coast, pre _ 
sented no fewer than four distinct species; including among — — 
them the genuine Cinnamon plant, the bark of the older bran- _ 
ches of which, it would appear, is exported from that coast as - 
Cassia. Three or four more species are natives of Ceylon, : 
exclusive of the Cinnamon proper, all of which greatly d 
ble the Cinnamon plant, and in the woods might easily be — 
taken for it, and peeled, though the quality would be inferior. - 
Thus we have from Western India and Ceylon alone, pro- - 
bably not less than six plants affording Cassia; add to these | 
nearly twice as many more species of Cinnamomum, the pro- — 
duce of the more eastern states of Asia and the Islands of the 4 
Eastern Archipelago, all remarkable for their striking family : 
likeness, all I believe endowed with aromatic properties; and. : 
probably the greater part if not the whole contributing some — 
_ thing towards the general result; and we at once see the mper 
sibility of awarding to any one individual species the credit of | 
.. being the source whence the Cassia Lignea of commerce I$ 
derived ; and equally the impropriety of applying to any one — 
.. of them the comprehensive specific appellation of Cate E. 
. Since all sorts of Cinnamon-like plants, yielding bark of 
quality unfit to bear the designation of Cinnamon in " 
passed off as Cassia. ae 
