1'. 



CINNAMOMUM 



gr.MJTIKS OF TEJPAT ZEYLANICUM 



Cinnamon 



to some extent supplement*) the Bengal supply 

 . tt/hi//in-nm that of the Lahore baz;> mble says that 



tli l>;irk and leaves of ('. Tunmhi, NeeS, and < . iiii/trf**in< nil/in. 

 I., are collected and exported under the same names and without 

 tinction from the Darjeeling forests. The leaves of all these species 

 ii-ed iii food, and also employed with invrobalans in dyeing and in 

 manufacture of vinegar (see p. 11 10). 



Tin- outer hiver of Cassia bark yields an OIL which is utilised in the oil. 

 uifacture of soap. Full details of the Chinese and other Cassia Oil Bop. 

 iv he obtained from Schimmel & Go's. Reports (April-May, 19<W, 

 il May, 1904, 18-23, etc.). No oil is distilled from these barks 

 India. Both bark (to/) and leaves (tejpdt) are employed in MEDI- Medicine. 

 :,the latter being commonly identified with the " Folia Malabatkri" 

 " Indian Leaf," which was held in great repute by the ancients. But 

 MI the bark is used instead of cinnamon great care is necessary to 



its not being adulterated with the injurious barks of several Adulteration, 

 of l.itwti. [Cf. Rept. Cent. Indig. Drugs Comm., L, 126.] 



C. zeylanicum, Breyn; Talbot, List Trees, etc., 1902, 283; De Cinnamon, 

 idolle, Orig. Cult. PL, 146. The TRUE CINNAMON or ddrchini (Chinese- 

 rk), karruwa (karud), lavanga, ohez, sanalinga, eringolam, kurundu ( in 



" the wood "), etc. 



A fairly large tree, native of Western and Southern India, Tenasserim Habitat. 

 Ceylon ; in the last-mentioned country it is extensively cultivated 

 its aromatic bark. There is no evidence of the economic cultivation 

 India of this tree, though it is occasionally planted as an ornamental 

 useful bush in Bombay, Madras and Bengal. As a wild tree, however, 

 is plentiful in Western and Southern India from the Konkan south- 

 irds, rising on the slopes of the Ghats to 6,000 feet in altitude. 

 History. It is somewhat significant that while Garcia de Orta (1563) gives full History, 

 biculars of both the Malabar and Ceylon industry and speaks of the plant in 

 former as plentiful and wild, subsequent writers should have ignored this 

 and confused the whole subject. Rheede figures and describes two forms Two Forms. 

 * i ii mi mom n m as met with in Malabar. These are doubtless the f. z-fyinnirnm, 

 yn, and c. IIP-C-JMMI, Hook., f., discussed by Talbot. Is this the Camphor- 

 called Bhimsini alluded to as a lofty tree of the Ghats by Abul Fazl in the Bhimtini. 

 i-i-Akbari (1590, 79) and by Kirkpatrick (Letter of Tippoo, 1786, 231) ? Many 

 aon timbers are described as " Camphor-woods," and might easily have been 

 jught to be obtained from the camphor tree. The name lavanga it will be seen 

 i also given to the Clove (which see, p. 527) as well as to the Nutmeg (see p. 791), 

 , perhaps points to the time when these plants were not separately recognised. 

 In India various barks, as also twigs with their adhering barks, are sold as Indian Traffic. 

 SSIA LIQNEA and CINNAMON. But we are hardly more able to distinguish these 

 were the 16th and 17th century writers. Cassia bark was historically the 

 to be known. The finest qualities were moreover said to come from China 

 the less valuable from Malabar. Cassia bark appears to have been known 

 China from about 2700 B.C. Malabar Cassia is mentioned by Strabo (A.D. 17) Malabar 



in the Periplus, A.D. 63 (ed. McCrindle, 18). In most of the classic works of 

 lia and Arabia a bark is alluded to that can only have been Cassia Lignea or Ddr 

 1) G'Mnt. It is in Sanskrit known as tvach and guda-tvach (= sweet-bark). But it 

 in comparatively modern times only that Ceylon cinnamon appeared in the 

 markets of the world. Garcia de Orta speaks of the Malabar as wild, thus leaving 

 the inference permissible that Ceylon was cultivated (see below under Trade). He 

 tells us that the Chinese traders exchanged their merchandise for the spicy barks 

 of Ceylon and Malabar and carried these to Persian and Arabian ports. He 

 suggests that the name ddrchini, given to these barks, took its origin from this 

 instance. Garcia would thus seem to have been unaware that cassia bark 

 was also well known in China and hence the Chinese may have only purchased 



313 



Chinese 

 Influence. 



