92 POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



brittle, and the best is extremely thin, and fibrous in the 

 longitudinal direction. 



Cinnamon is usually imported in round bundles, tightly 

 covered with gunny matting. The quantity imported in 

 1850 was 312 tons; but in 'Poole's Statistics' it is stated 

 that of this, 272 tons were re-exported, leaving only 40 

 tons for consumption in this country ; this however, in con- 

 sequence of the extreme lightness of cinnamon-bark, is a 

 large quantity. 



Cassia, or Cassia-lignea. — This spice is supposed to be 

 yielded by the Cinnamomum Zeylanicum, the same plant as 

 the true cinnamon, the difference probably arising either 

 from the age of the shoots from which the bark is taken, or 

 else from difference of climate and culture; it is coarser, 

 more strongly flavoured, but to some persons more agreeable 

 than cinnamon ; to others it is disagreeable. It is cultivated 

 to a very great extent in China, whence it is imported in 

 chests similar to those in which tea is packed. The imports 

 in 1850 were nearly 300 tons. 



Cassia Buds. — This elegant spice is less known than it 

 deserves to be ; the buds are supposed to be yielded by the 

 same variety of cinnamon as that from which the Cassia- 

 lignea is derived ; they are the immature flowers gathered 



