74 CANELLACE^. 



being stripped from the wood, the bark is gently beaten with a stick, 

 which removes the suberous layer. By a further beating, the remain- 

 ing bark is separated, and having been peeled off and dried, is exported 

 without further preparation.^ 



Description — Canella bark occurs in the form of quills, more or 

 less crooked and irregular, or in channelled pieces from 2 or 3 up to 6, 

 8, or more inches in length, | an inch to 1 or 2 inches in width, and a 

 line or two in thickness. The suberous layer which here and there has 

 escaped removal is silvery grey, and dotted with minute lichens. 

 Commonly, the external surface consists of inner cellular layers 

 {mesoplilceum) of a bright buff, or light orange-brown tint, often a 

 little wrinkled transversely, and dotted (but not always) with round 

 scars. The inner surface is whitish or cinnamon-coloured, either 

 smooth or with slight longitudinal striae. Some parcels of canella show 

 the bark much bruised and longitudinally fissured by the above- 

 mentioned process of beating. The bark breaks transversely with a 

 short granular fracture, which distinctly shows the three, or in uncoated 

 specimens the two, cortical layers, that of the liber being the largest, 

 and projecting by undulated rays or bundles into the middle layer, 

 which presents numerous large and unevenly scattered oil-cells of a 

 yellow colour. 



Canella has an agreeable cinnamon-like odour, and a bitter, pungent 

 acrid taste.^ Even the corky coat is somewhat aromatic. 



Microscopical Structure — The spongy suberous coat consists of 

 very numerous layers of large cells with thin walls, showing an 

 undulated rather than rectangular outline. The next small zone is 

 constituted of sclerenchymatous cells in a single, double, or triple row, 

 or forming dense but not very extensive groups. This tissue is some- 

 times (in unpeeled specimens) a continuous envelope, marking the 

 boundary between the corky layer and the middle portion of the 

 cellular layer; but an interruption in this thick- walled tissue often 

 takes place when portions of it are enveloped and separated by the 

 suberous layer. 



The proper cellular envelope shows a narrow tissue with numerous 

 very large cells filled with yellow essential oil. The liber forming the 

 chief portion of the whole bark, exhibits thin prosenchymatous cells, 

 which on traverse section form small bands of a peculiar horny or 

 cartilaginous appearance, on which account they have been distin- 

 guished as horny liber (Hornbast of German writers).^ The liber-fibres 

 show reticulated marks due to the peculiar character of the secondary 

 deposits on their cell walls. The oil-cells in the liber are less numerous 

 and smaller ; the medullary rays are not very obvious unless on account 

 of the crystalline tufts of oxalate of calcium deposited in the latter. 

 This crystalline oxalate retains air obstinately, and has a striking dark 

 appearance. 



^Information communicated to me by to be absolutely identical with canella alba, 



the Hon. J. C. Lees, Chief -Justice of the still retains its proper fragrance after nearly 



Bahamas. The second beating would seem two centuries. — F. A. F. 

 to be not always required. — D. H. ^pipg^ figured and described by Oude- 



^ A specimen in Sloane's collection in the mans, — Aanteekeningen op het. . . . Gedeelte 



British Museum labelled "Cortex Wiw^erawM* der Pharm. Neerlandica, 1854-56. 467. 

 oftlie Isles," but under the microscope seen 



