LAURACEiE. 



557 



Fig. 242. 



2. C. aromaticum, Nees. — 

 A large tree. Branches an- 

 gular, twigs and petioles co- 

 vered with downy patches. 

 Leaves oblong, rather acute 

 at each end, triple-nerved, 

 nerves disappearing at the 

 extremity of the leaf, with 

 curved veinlets on the under 

 side. Panicles narrow and 

 silky. 



Nees, Laurin. 52 ; 

 Lindley, FL Med. 330 ; 

 C. cassia^ Nees and 

 Eberm., PL Med. 129; 

 Handb. ii. 424 ; Laurus 

 cassia, Hort. Kev. ii. 427 ; 

 L. cinnamomum, Bot. 

 Repos. 595. 



A native of China ; and 

 according to Nees v. 

 Esenbeck, the species fur- 

 nishing the Cinnamon of 

 China, in which opinion 

 Dr. Royle seems to coin- 

 cide. This is the origin 

 of what is commercially 

 known in this country 

 as Cassia, but is in fact 

 a mixture of a variety of 

 different qualities of Cin- 

 namon. It is difficult to 

 ascertain exactly what is 

 meant by the word Cas- 

 sia, some writers including in it all varieties of inferior Cinnamon, whilst 

 others restrict it to a coarse bark from Ceylon. There are several species 

 which produce very analogous barks ; thus Dr. Wight has shown that Lin- 

 naeus included no less than three different plants, one the C. sulphur etum, 

 Nees, another C. inus, Nees, and the third the Litsoza zeylanica. None of 

 these afford the Chinese bark, but are the origin, as will be hereafter shown, 

 of the Malabar and other Cassias. 



Cassia is, like Cinnamon, mentioned by the earlier writers, as in the Bible 

 (Exodus, xxx. 24), by Dioscorides, and other Greek writers. It bears a great 

 resemblance to Cinnamon, but is in shorter pieces,, and usually thicker, 

 rougher, and denser, has a more powerful but not as agreeable a taste or 

 pleasant odour; but in the bundles of Chinese Cinnamon, specimens may be 

 found having all the characteristics of the Ceylon kind. Its medicinal pro- 

 perties are identical with that article. 



3. C. nitidum, Hooker. — A small tree. Leaves elliptical or ellipticoblong, tapering a 

 little at each end, usually withering at the point, shortly triple-nerved, nearly veinless, 

 smooth ; the nerves nearly reaching the point. Racemes, or terminal compound cymes, 

 branched, about as long as the leaves. Flowers silky ; segments of the calyx deciduous 

 in the middle. 



Leaves of Cinnamomum. 

 A. C. aromaticum. B, C. C. zeylanicum. 



Hooker, Exot. FZor. 176; Blume, Rumphia, 35, t. 15; Lindley, Fl. 



