490 SYSTEMATIC BOTANY. 



Character. — "This name has been given to a supposed order 

 of plants represented by Canella alba, a common West In- 

 dian aromatic shrub, with evergreen, coriaceous, obovate, alter- 

 nate, stalked leaves, no stipules, and corymbs of purple flowers. 

 The calyx is leathery, and consists of 3 blunt, tough, perma- 

 nent, concave sepals, which imbricate each other. The petals 

 are 5, twisted in aestivation. Within these stands a tough 

 truncated hypogynous cone, whose upper half, on the outside, 

 bears about 20 linear, parallel, 2-celled anthers, which open 

 longitudinally, and totich each other. Its ovary is ovate, and 

 tapers into a stiff style, whose end is emarginate. According 

 to Botanical writers, the stigma is permanent, and 2-lobed, while 

 the ovary is S-celled, with more ovules than one, attached to the 

 central angle. But I can find no such structure ; on the con- 

 trary, although the stigma is very slightly emarginate, yet the 

 ovary does not offer even a trace of two cells, but is absolutely 

 1-celled, with 2 or 3 half-anatropal ovules hanging by long 

 cords from a little below the dome of the cavity. (According 

 to Kichard, there are 6 funiculate ovules attached in pairs to the 

 middle of the wall of the ovary at the same height.) Gaertner 

 has figured what piu'ports to be the fruit of this plant, represent- 

 ing it to have 3 cells, of which 2 are abortive, and 2 or 3 seeds in 

 the perfect cell, somewhat rostrate, consisting of hard homo- 

 geneous albumen, and containing a very small curved cylin- 

 drical embryo, lying obliquely, with the radicle turned towards 

 the rostrum." — Lindlcy. 



Diag7hosis. — By some authors the genus Canella is placed in 

 Clusiacese, by others in Meliacese. This order is, however, at 

 once distinguished from the ClusiacecB, by its general appear- 

 ance ; alternate leaves ; longitudinal dehiscence of its anthers ; 

 absence of disk ; presence of a style ; and albuminous seeds : 

 from the 3feliacecs, by its unsymmetrical flowers ; twisted aesti- 

 vation of its petals ; absence of disk ; and horny albumen. 



Distributio7i, ^-c. — The order is said to contain 3 species. 

 They are natives of the West Indies and continent of America. 



Properties and Uses. — The plants of the order have aromatic, 

 stimulant, and tonic properties. One plant is officinal in the 

 British Pharmacopoeia, namely : — 



Canella alba. The Laurel-leaved Canella, or Wild Cinnamon.— The inner 

 bark of this plant is the Canella of the shops. It has been confounded, as 

 already noticed, with Winter's Bark, and hence has been called Spurious 

 Winter's Bark. (See Driiniis.) In its properties it is a warm aromatic sti- 

 mulant and tonic. In America it has been employed as an antiscorbutic. 

 In the Wpst Indies, and in some parts of Europe, it is used as a spice. It 

 has an odonr intermediate between cloves and cinnamon. By distillation it 

 yields a volatile oil, which is said to be sometimes mixed with, or substi- 

 tuted for, Oil of Cloves. 



Oinnamodendroa. — C. axillare, a native of the Brazils, and C. corticosum, 

 a, native of Jamaica, SiC. , have aromatic barks, which pos;3ess similar pro- 



