146 ORIGIN OF CULTIVATED PLANTS. 



Cinnamon Cinnamonum zeylanicum, Breyn. 



This little tree, belonging to the laurel tribe, of which 

 the bark of the young branches forms the cinnamon of 

 commerce, grows in great quantities in the forests of 

 Ceylon. Certain varieties which grow wild on the con- 

 tinent of India were formerly considered to be so many 

 distinct species, but Anglo-Indian botanists are agreed 

 in connecting them with that of Ceylon. 1 



The bark of C. zeylanicum, and that of several uncul- 

 tivated species of Cinnamonum, which produce the 

 cassia, or Chinese cassia, have been an important article 

 of commerce from a very early period. Fluckiger and 

 Hanbury 2 have treated of this historical question with 

 so much learning and thoroughness, that we need only 

 refer to their work, entitled Pharmacographia, or His- 

 tory of the Principal Drugs of Vegetable Origin. It is 

 important from our point of view to note how modern 

 the culture is of the cinnamon tree in comparison with 

 the trade in its product. It was only between 1765 and 

 1770 that a Ceylon colonist, named de Koke, aided by 

 Falck, the governor of the island, made some planta- 

 tions which were wonderfully successful. They have 

 diminished in Ceylon in the last few years, but others 

 have been established in the tropical regions of the old 

 and new worlds. The species becomes easily naturalized 

 beyond the limits of cultivation, 8 as birds are fond of the 

 fruit, and drop the seeds in the forests. 



China Grass Boehmeria nivea, Hooker and Arnott. 



The cultivation of this valuable Urticacea has been 

 introduced into the south of France and of the United 

 States for about thirty years, but commerce had pre- 

 viously acquainted us with the great value of its fibres, 

 more tenacious than hemp and in some cases flexible as 

 silk. Interesting details on the manner of cultivating 



1 Thwaites, Enum. PI. Zelanice, p. 252 ; Brandis, Forest Flora of India, 

 p. 375. 



2 Fluckiger and Hanbury, Pharmacographia, p. 467 ; Porter, The 

 Tropical Agriculturist, p. 268. 



3 Brandis, Forest Flora; Grisebach, Flora of Brit. W. India Is., 

 p. 179. 



