Foreign Vegetables. 69 
Fables and Uncertainties : We fliall therefore pur- 
pofely wave them, and proceed to the Hiftory of 
the Cinnamon of our Shops. 
Cinnamomum five Canella vulgaris Off. The of- 
ficinal Cinnamon is a thin Bark, commonly about 
as thick as a Card, though fometimes equal to two 
Lines or the fixth Part of an Inch, convoluted into 
llender Tubes or Quills a Cubit and Half long, or 
more, and as broad as one’s Finger, of a woody 
and fibrous Subftance, yet brittle, fometimes mark- 
ed on its Surface with Wrinkles, fometimes fmooth, 
of a reddifh yellow Colour, or like the Ruft of 
Iron, having a fweetifh, aromatick, pungent or 
biting Tafle, but creating no uneafy Senfation up- 
on the Tongue, and a fweet and fragrant Smell. 
It is the fecond and interior Bark of a Tree 
which is called Cinnamomum five Canella Zeylanica y 
C. B. P. Laurus Zeylanica baccis calyculatis Hermanni , 
Rail Hijl. Caffia cinnamomea , H. Lugd . Bat. Canella 
qua Cuurdo , Pifon. Mantifs. arom. Arbor canellifera 
Zeylanica* cor t ice acerrimo feu praftantiffimo , qui Cin- 
namomum Officinarum , Breyn. 2. Prodr. Cinnamo- 
mum foliis latis* ovatis , frugiferum , Burm. The 5. 
Zeyl. p. 62. Tab. 27. Laurus foliis oblongovatis , tri- 
nerviis , nitidis* planis , Lin. H. Cliff. 154. It grows 
in Ceylon , where it is as common in the Woods 
and Hedges as the Hafel-Tree is with us. 
When the Tree is of about three Years Growth, 
the Bark of the fmaller Branches is ftripped off. This 
is done either in the Spring or Autumn, at which 
Seafons a fufficient Stock of Sap is contained be- 
twixt the Wood and the Bark •, though more com- 
monly in Spring when the Trees begin to flower. 
In the next Place, the cineritious and rough exte- 
rior Coat is pared away, and the other being cut 
into long flat Pieces is expofed to the Sun, where 
it turns up of its own Accord into Tubes. The 
F 3 Tree 
