LAURUS CINNAMOMUM.-THE CINNAMON TREE. 
Class IX. ENNEANDRIA.— Order I. MONOGYNIA. 
Natural Order, LAURINE.E. THE LAUREL TRIBE. 
Laurus Cinnamomum, the bark of which yields the well known spice cinnamon, is a native of Ceylon, 
but it is cultivated in other parts both of the East and West Indies. Cinnamon seems to be confined to the 
torrid zone, or at least we have no good authority for supposing that it flourishes much beyond it. Spielman 
says, it is found in Tartary, and many authors have asserted that it grows in China. Spielman’s assertion is 
now supposed to be incorrect ; and Sir G. Staunton tell us that, with the exception of the camphor-tree, 
none of the laurel genus grows in China ; nor does Osbeck include it in his “ Flora Sinensis.” It grows 
abundantly on the Malabar coast ; the island of Sumatra, particularly about the Bay of Taponooly ; Cochin 
China ; Tonquin, where it is an article of Royal monopoly ; the Sooloo ; Borneo ; Timor ; the Nicobar and 
Philippine islands ; the island of Floris, and Tobago. It has been cultivated in the Brazils, the isles of 
Bourbon and Mauritius, the Seychelle islands, Guadaloupe, Jamaica, and the northern Circars. The cinna- 
mon plant was introduced into Guiana, in the year 1772? from the isle of France; subsequently it was 
transported into the Antilles. In Guiana the inhabitants cultivate it in their gardens, and round their 
cottages. They prepare cinnamon sufficient for domestic purposes, and transmit a small quantity to France. 
Prior to the year 1790, it was introduced into Cayenne by the French government at a very great expense, 
and recommended to be cultivated by the colonists ; cinnamon has been successfully grown in the island of 
Dominica by a M. Buee, where the same gentleman has succeeded in propagating the clove-tree. 
The fullest account of the cinpamon-tree, and of the preparation of cinnamon, that we have seen in the 
English language, is by Henry Marshall, Esq., Staff Surgeon to the Forces in Ceylon, and the following 
details respecting the natural history and description of this valuable spice, are principally derived from his 
interesting paper, published in Thomson’s Annals of Philosophy, vol. x. p. 241 and 346. The tree grows to 
the height of from 20 to 30 feet ; has a slender trunk, from 12 to 18 inches in diameter, irregular, knotty, 
and covered externally with an ash-coloured, thick, rough, scabrous bark ; innumerable branches shoot from 
the stem and give it the appearance of the Portugal laurel. The wood is light and porous like that of the 
osier, and is used for fuel. Shoots spring up from the roots in great profusion, and form a bush round the 
stem. The inner bark is reddish. The bark of the young shoots is often beautifully speckled with dark 
green and light orange colours. The root and branches exude abundance of camphor. The leaves, which 
stand in nearly opposite pairs on short slightly channelled petioles, are from six to nine inches in length, 
oblong, smooth, pointed, entire, and three nerved ; the lateral nerves vanishing as they approach the point. 
The young leaves and tender shoots are of a bright red or liver colour, with yellow veins ; the former as they 
acquire maturity become olive, then bright green, and before they fall olive yellow ; mature leaves have a 
strong aromatic odour, and the biting hot taste of cloves. The flowers are in axillary and terminal panicles, 
white, inodorous, or perhaps somewhat foetid. The petals are six, ovate, pointed, concave, and spreading ; 
the filaments are in threes, shorter than the corolla, flattish, erect, the three innermost gland uliferous at the 
base, and the anthers are double. The fruit is an oval berry, larger than a black currant ; when ripe, the 
skin is bluish-brown, thickly scattered with spots ; beneath the skin is a greenish pulp, which is slightly 
acrid, has a terebinthinate odour, and a taste resembling that of the juniper berry. This pulp incloses a nut, 
which contains an oily, soft, pale rose-coloured, inodorous kernel. Crows and wood-pigeons devour the 
berries with great avidity ; the productive quality of the seeds remains undestroyed, and by this means the 
plant is disseminated over a great extent of country, and is found even in the thickest and most impassable 
jungles. 
Cinnamon is mentioned, Exod. xxx. 23, among the materials which composed the holy anointing oil ; 
and in Prov. vii. 17, Cant. iv. 14, Eccles. xxiv. 15, and Rom. xviii. 13, amongst the richest perfumes. Our 
species of cinnamon is brought from the East Indies ; but as there was no traffic with India in the days of 
Moses, it was probably obtained from Arabia, or some neighbouring country. We learn, also, from Pliny, 
that a species of it grew in Syria. “ In Syria gignitur et cinnamomum quod caryopon appellant. Hie est 
succus nuci expressus, multum a surculo veri cinnamomi differens, vicina tamen gratia.” — Nat. Ilist.l.xii. c.38. 1 
Mr. Marshall, whose valuable contributions were published in the Annals of Philosophy, thinks it pro- 
bable, that from the earliest ages Europe has been indebted to Ceylon for part of its supplies of this article. 
He thinks that it may have been exported by small vessels belonging to the island, to the Malabar coast, and 
rom thence to Sabea, on the south coast of Arabia, by the Arabs. Here the ships belonging to the mer- 
S almasius has shown from the authority of MSS., that cam aeon, or common, is here to be read for In Solinum, p. 922, 
