GANELLA ALBA. 3 ORD. XL. Oleracee. 697 
of the old botanists,* combined two genera under the name of — 
Laurus Winterana;* but he afterwards made it a separate genus, 
and called it Winterania,* a name by which it has been long 
universally, though improperly distinguished. Mr. Aiton, who 
has followed Murray in considering the Canella, as differing 
generically from the tree named after Winter, informs us, that it 
was cultivated by Mr. Phillip Miller, at Chelsea, in 1739-" 
The officinal Canella alba is the bark of the branches of this 
tree, freed from its outward covering, and dried in the shade. It 
is brought to Europe in long quills, which are about three quarters 
of an inch in diameter, somewhat thicker than cinnamon, and both 
externally and internally of a whitish or light brown colour, with 
a yellowish hue, and commonly intermixed with thicker pieces, 
which are probably obtained from the trunk of the tree. . This 
bark.in taste is moderately warm, aromatic, and bitterish; its smell 
is agreeable, and resembles that of cloves. Its virtues are extracted 
most perfectly by proof spirit. “ In distillation with water it yields 
an essential oil of a dark yellowish colour, of a thick tenacious 
consistence, difficultly separable from the aqueous fluid, in smell 
sufficiently grateful, though rather less so than the bark itself: 
the remaining decoction, inspissated,deaves~an-extract of great 
bittérticencacontcette not uniform, seemingly composed of a 
resinous and gummy matter, imperfectly mixed. On inspissating 
the spirituous tincture, the spirit which distils has no great smell 
or taste of the Canella, but is so far impregnated with its more 
volatile oil 2s to turn milky on the admixture of water: the re- 
maining extract retains the bitterness of the bark, but has little 
more of its warmth or flavour than the extract made with water.”' 
* Among these we may notice Plukenet, who, speaking of these two trees, 
says, ‘ Varie inter se plurimum diverse planta per illarum ignorationem plane 
sonfunduntur.” Almag, Mant. p. 40. 
= =. Plant. ed. 1. p. 371. = See his Hort. Cliff. 448, and Mat. Med. 
* Hort. Kew. vol, ti. p. 125. 
i Lewis, M. M. p, 186. 
No 51.—vo.. 4, 80 
