482 



HISTORY OF THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 



found filled with fluid secreted from the juices 

 of the plant. What is remarkable, this fluid, 



Pitcher Plant. 



is a pure and wholesome water, while the water 

 of the soil in which the plant grows, is stagnant 

 and unwholesome. From forty to fifty of these 

 cups grow on a plant, each holding about an 

 ounce or two of water. 



This plant thrives, with care and attention, in 

 hot-houses in this country, where the pitchers 

 are fully developed. It requires a very damp 

 atmosphere, and much heat. 



CHAP. XLVI. 



THE SPICE TREES AND PLANTS CINNAMON, CAMPHOn, 



CLOVE, PEPPEB, OINOER, &C. 



The plants to be treated of in this chapter 

 are distinguished by their aromatic qualities, 

 depending on the existence of an essential oil, 

 either diffused throughout the whole plant, or 

 existing in the bark, fniit, or roots. 



These aromatic species have been used as lux- 

 uries, and perhaps formed the first articles of 

 commerce among the earliest races of mankind. 

 In eastern countries, from the earliest times, 

 they were employed as perfumes, and entered into 

 the composition of most of their culinary 

 dishes. The Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans 

 used them in profusion both as articles of luxury, 

 and at their religious ceremonies and funeral 

 obsequies. Nor are they less esteemed by the 

 modems, or the inhabitants of the more tem- 

 perate and colder regions of the globe. Into 

 every country almost, are these fragrant and 

 stimulating substances difiiised by the universal 

 agency of commerce. 



The Cinnamon tree (laurus cinnamomum ) . 

 Natural favaily laurinecej enneandria, mmiogynia, 

 of Linnaeus. Tliis valuable and beautiful species 

 of the laurel family, grows to the height of 

 twenty to thirty feet. The trunk is short, erect. 



with wide spreading branches, and a smooth ash- 

 coloured bark. The leaves stand in opposite 

 pairs upon short footstalks; they are oval, three 

 to five inches long, of a bright green above, and 

 pale beneath, and traversed longitudinally by 

 three whitish nerves. The flowers are in panicles, 

 with six small petals; they have no show, and 

 have a slight, rather foetid odour. The fruit is 

 the size of a middling olive, soft, insipid, and of 

 a deep blue. It encloses a nut, the kernel of 

 which germinates soon after it falls, and there- 

 fore cannot easily be transported to a distance. 

 The timber is white, and not very solid; the root 

 is thick and branching, and exudes abundance 

 of camphor. The inner bai-k forms the cinnamon 

 of commerce. 



This tree is a native of Ceylon, to which place 

 it was at one time thought that it was entirely 

 confined; but it is now known to grow plentifully 

 in Malabar, Cochin-China, Sumatra, and the 

 eastern islands; and it hasbeefl cultivated in the 



178. 



^-U 



Cinnanion Tree. 



Brazils, the Mauritius, India, Jamaica, and other 

 tropical localities. There are probably many 

 varieties, and several species of this tree, modified 

 by soil and climate. The soil in which it thrives 

 best is nearly pure quartz sand. That of the 

 cinnamon garden near Colombo, in Ceylon, was 

 found by Dr Davy to consist of 98.5 of siliceous 

 sand, and of only one part of vegetable matter 

 in the hundred. The garden is nearly on a level 

 with the lake of Colombo; its situation is shel- 

 tered; the climate is remarkably damp; showers 

 are frequent; and the temperature is high, and 

 uncommonly equable. 



Although, ever since the Dutch first had a 

 settlement in Ceylon, cinnamon was made by 

 them a lucrative article of trade, and one which 

 they strove by every means wholly to mono- 

 polize, this tree was not made by them an object 

 of cultivation in the island until 1766. Before 



