RED  CANELLA  BARK  FROM  THE  WEST  INDIES.  347 
Murray.  Two  varieties  of  this  species  dependent  on  the  form 
of  leaves  are,  however,  known  to  exist  in  the  mountain  forests ; 
one  of  these  may  probably  be  the  C.  laurifolia  of  Don.  My 
friend  suspected  this  cortex  might  have  been  taken  from  a  Cin- 
namodendron, but  in  a  letter  he  informs  me  that,  having  com- 
pared the  red  Canella  with  the  latter,  he  found  the  wood  and 
bark  were  "apparently  quite  distinct."  The  only  doubt  that 
remained  relative  to  the  identification  of  the  plant  proceeded 
merely  from  the  flowers,  which  were  not  sufficiently  perfect  for 
investigation.  The  Cinnamodendron  above  alluded  to,  is,  no 
doubt,  the  0.  corticosum,  Miers,  lately  described  by  Mr.  Miers  in 
an  elaborate  paper  on  the  Oanellacece.  This  author  states  that 
"  its  bark  has  the  same  aromatic  properties  as  that  of  Canella 
alba,  from  which  it  is  scarcely  distinguishable,  both  being  col- 
lected and  exported  under  the  same  name,"  and  he  moreover  ob- 
serves that  in  the  two  species  of  Cinnamodendron  known,  the 
flowers  are  constantly  axillary.* 
Having  frequently  compared  my  specimens  with  the  bark  of 
living  plants  of  Canella  alba,  which  abundantly  flourish  in  seve- 
ral of  the  Bahama  Islands,  I  noticed  they  afforded  many  points 
of  similarity.  The  warm  aromatic  properties,  rugged  epidermis, 
and  peculiar  double  cortical  layers  were  common  to  both,  and 
with  the  exception  of  the  red  line,  and  perhaps  a  greater  degree 
of  pungency  of  the  inner  cortical  layer  of  the  former,  no  special 
differences  could  be  detected. 
It  may  therefore  not  be  unreasonable  to  suppose  that  frag- 
ments of  this  kind  of  Canella  were  occasionally  exported  to 
Europe  in  former  years,  and  lead  John  Bauhin  and  subsequent 
writers  to  confound  it  with  Winter's  bark  (Drimys  Winteri, 
Forst.),  under  the  term  of  Cortex  Winteranus  spurius. 
As  the  evidence  so  far  is  decidedly  in  favor  of  this  bark  be- 
longing to  a  species  of  Canella  rather  than  Cinnamodendron,  it 
has  been  proposed  to  provisionally  designate  this  product  (from 
the  distinctive  red  color)  by  the  title  of  Canella  rubra. — Phar. 
Jour,  and  Trans.,  London,  April  1,  1859. 
*  The  following  note  has  since  been  received  by  Mr.  Bentley,  from  Dr.  Dan- 
iell:— 
"  I  omitted  to  state  in  my  paper  on  the  Red  Canella  Bark,  that  the  flowers  of 
the  tree  which  produced  it  were  terminal,  and  were  examined  by  Mr.  March, 
but  not  with  sufficient  minuteness  to  determine  their  structure,  as  they  are 
martially  decayed." 
21 
