CINNAMOMUM 



Cassia Ligiiea 



THE CINNAMON PLANT 



Exports. 



World's 



Demands. 



production have for years been steadily increasing, so that the plantations 

 hardly do more than meet half the requirements of the Government factories ; 

 but it is probable the extensions that have been made will reduce the de- 

 mand on private production. In spite of past failures, however, there 

 would seem every hope that the cultivation of the most approved 

 varieties might be made a profitable adjunct to tea, especially in the Dar- 

 jeeling district. The difficulty is to obtain suitable land in desirable 

 situations. There would also seem every likelihood that private manu- 

 facturing establishments, to use up the bark presently being exported, 

 might prove successful. India's demand for quinine is great and increasing. 

 The exports of bark were 3,290,236 Ib. in 1889-1900 ; 2,753,858 Ib. in 

 1900-1 ; 1,917,259 Ib. in 1901-2 ; 1,579,498 Ib. in 1902-3 ; 1,108,527 Ib. 

 in 1903-4 ; 1,177,394 Ib. in 1904-5 ; and 494,587 Ib. in 1906-7. These 

 went almost exclusively from South India and to the United Kingdom. 

 There are said to be in the world 18 quinine factories : 5 in France ; 3 in 

 England ; 2 in Germany ; 1 in Holland ; 4 in America ; 2 in India, and 1 

 in Java. But the modern trade centres mainly in Amsterdam. The 

 world's demands for bark average from 14 to 18 million pounds. 



D.E.P., 

 ii., 317-26. 



Cassia 

 Lignea. 



Nepal 

 Sassafras. 



Camphor- 

 wood. 



Kama. 



CINNAMOMUM, Blume; Fl. Br. Ind., v., 128-36; Pharmacog. Ind., 

 iii., 199-210; Gamble, Man. Ind. Timbs., 560-4 ; Prain, Beng. Plants, ii., 898; 

 Brandis, Ind. Trees, 532-4 ; LAURACE^E. Gamble observes that there are 

 about 24 species placed under this genus and divided into two subgenera, 

 MALABATHRUM taking 20 and CAMPHORA 4 species. It is not intended 

 in this work to discuss at all fully more than two of these, viz. C. Tainafft 

 and C. zeylanicum. A third species, C. Camphor a, will, however, 

 be found separately dealt with under Camphor (p. 245). 



Cinnamomum Cassia, Bl. This is the plant which in China is regarded 

 as affording the finest quality of CASSIA LIGNEA the true Cassia bark of the 

 ancients. A sample of this bark was lately sent from the Patkai mountains, on 

 the frontier of Assam, accompanied by fairly satisfactory botanical specimens. 

 These were critically examined by Prain and myself and compared with 

 authenticated specimens of the Chinese plant. There would, therefore, seem 

 no doubt that the best qualities of Assam Cassia are the true CASSIA LIGNEA of 

 commerce. It is possible that to this circumstance is due the improved trade 

 in the Assam bark. [Cf. Thiselton-Dyer in Journ. Linn. Soc., xx., 19-24 ; 

 Pharmacog. Ind., iii., 203-8 ; Gildemeister and Hoffmann, Volatile Oils, 382-91.] 



C. glanduliferum, Meissn. ; the Nepal Sassafras or Nepal Camphor-wood 

 (the malligiri), is a large tree of the Southern Himalaya, from Kumaon east- 

 wards to Assam, but especially so in Nepal. Its wood is strongly camphor- 

 scented. It is very readily confused with c. cecicodaphne, Meissn. (the rohu, 

 gun-serai, gun-droi), a tree of the Eastern Himalaya, especially Darjeeling 

 and Assam. Still further to the east c. Pni-tiienojci/ion is the Martaban 

 Camphor-wood, and apparently also the Camphor-wood of the Malaya. Cam- 

 phor-wood is used for boxes, furniture and even canoes, but is brittle. 



C. iners, Reinw. / the hmanthin of Burma. This large tree is met with 

 in the forests of Tenasserim and the Malay Peninsula. Its timber is one of the 

 camphor-woods of commerce, and according to some writers the bark is one 

 of the qualities of CASSIA LIGNEA. It would seem probable that much of the 

 economic information given in the Dictionary and in other works on Indian 

 economic botany, under this species, should be transferred to the c. *<// />( 

 of Western and Southern India. [Cf. Holmes, Pharm. Soc. Mus. Rept., 1895- 

 1902, 54.] 



C. macroearpum, Hook., f. , Fl. Br. Ind., v., 133 ; Carua, Ham., Trans. 

 Linn. Soc., xiii., 550-5. This is a small tree of N. Kanara and seems to be the 

 plant described by Rheede (Hort. Mai., 1686, i., 107-10, t. 57) as karua, bahena 

 and tiqui (tikhi), and which he said differed from c. xeyiauirum of that 

 region by having large fruits, and by its flowering in January instead of July. 



310 



