190 Dv Balfour's Description of Rare Plants. 



2. Jointed leaf, with winged petiole and undivided blade. 3. Stamen, 

 with hairy scale at its base. 4. Lateral view of a staminal scale. 5. 

 Ovary, consisting of 5 carpels, seated on a large gynophore, with divided 

 persistent calyx at the base, single style and lobed stigma. 



CiNNAMOMUM NITIDUM, Nees ah Esenb. Shining-leaved 

 Cinnamon. Nat. Ord. Lauraceae. — Enneandria Mono- 

 gynia. 



Generic Character. — Flores hermaphroditi vel polygami. Peri- 

 anthium sexfidum, coriaceum, limbi parte superiore vel toto limbo 

 a tubo cupuliformi deciduo. Stamina fertilia novem, triplici serie, 

 quorum tria interna staminodiis binis sessilibus glanduliformi- 

 bus ad basin stipata ; antherse ovatK, sex exteriores introrsas, 

 tres interiores extrorsse, omnes quadri ocellatse, valvulis totiden 

 adscendentibus dehiscentes, locellis inferioribus magis lateralibus. 

 Staminodia tria capitulo ovato in serie niagis interiore. Ovarium 

 uniloculare, uniovulatum. Stigma discoideum. Bacca monosper- 

 ma, perianthii basi cupuliformi subsexfida stipata. — Arbores In- 

 diae Orientalis, ob corticem aromaticum celebres ; foliis nervosis 

 per paria approximatis vel suboppositis ; floribus paniculatis, 

 rariusve fasciculatis, exinvolucratis, gemmis nudis. N. ab E. 



Specific Character. — Ramis teretibus glabris, foliis ovato-ellip- 

 ticis basi apiccque subattenuato-obtusis, triplinerviis, obsolete 

 venulosis, superioribus majoribus, paniculis subterminalibus axil- 

 laribusque, inferioribus sessilibus elongatis, floribus argenteo- 

 sericeis, laciniis ellipticis medio deciduis. Nees ab EsenbecJc, 

 Syst. Laurin., p. 43. Plant. Officin. Suppl. Fasc. iv., tab. 8. 

 Wallich, Plant. Asiat. rar., p. 73, No. 6. 



The specimen in the Edinburgh Botanic Garden is a tree upwards 

 of 20 feet high, and 7w inches in circumference at its base. Bark 

 has a slight taste of cinnamon ; that of the trunk is of a greyish- 

 brown colour ; that of the young branches dark green. Leaves 

 have a marked cinnamon flavour. They are all more or less 

 broadly ovate, and attenuated towards the apex, blunt and slightly 

 unequal at the base, usually placed alternately, but sometimes be- 

 coming opposite : Petioles about an inch in length, flattened and 

 grooved on the upper surface : Laminw subcoriaeeous, varying 

 from 2 to 6 inches in length, and from 1^ to 4 inches in breadth ; 

 dark green, shining and smooth on the upper surface, glaucous 

 below, triplinerved, ribs prominent, lateral ribs vanishing towards 

 the apex of the lamina, and giving otF occasionally near the base 

 subsidiary slender ribs, which only proceed lor a short way up ; 

 sometimes an obscure rib runs along the outer margin of the 

 leaves on each side'; transverse veins somewhat arched and par- 

 allel, forming ultimately an angular net- work. Panicles terminal 

 and lateral, cyiaose, somewhat corymbose, lax and spreading. 

 Racliis, peduncles, and pedicels more or less hairy, becoming 

 thickly covered towards their apex with short hoary pubescence. 

 Primary divisions of the rachis (peduncles) diverge in pairs, bear- 

 ing from 6 to 12 or more flowers. jE»tivation imbricated. Pe- 

 rianth sulphur-yellow, 6-partite, pubescent, segments ovate, blunt 

 at the apex (3 outer ones rather acute), concave on the inner sur- 



