Cinnamomum aromaticum

• Overview
• Interesting Facts
• Common Names
• Description
• Taxonomy
• Similar Species
• More Info
• Further Reading
• Notes

Overview

Interesting Facts

Common Names

Click on the language to view common names.

Description

Family Lauraceae

Shrubs to tall trees , evergreen or rarely deciduous ( Cassytha a parasitic vine with leaves reduced to scales ), usually aromatic . Leaves alternate, rarely whorled or opposite, simple , without stipules, petiolate . Leaf blade : unlobed (unlobed or lobed in Sassafras ), margins entire, occasionally with domatia (crevices or hollows serving as lodging for mites ) in axils of main lateral veins (in Cinnamomum ) . Inflorescences in axils of leaves or deciduous bracts, panicles (rarely heads ), racemes , compound cymes, or pseudoumbels (spikes in Cassytha ), sometimes enclosed by decussate bracts. Flowers bisexual or unisexual , bisexual only, or staminate and pistillate on different plants , or staminate and bisexual on some plants, pistillate and bisexual on others; flowers usually yellow to greenish or white, rarely reddish; hypanthium well developed, resembling calyx tube , tepals and stamens perigynous; tepals 6(-9), in 2(-3) whorls of 3, sepaloid , equal or rarely unequal, if unequal then usually outer 3 smaller than inner 3 (occasionally absent in Litsea ) ; stamens (3-) 9(-12), in whorls of 3, but 1 or more whorls frequently staminodial or absent; stamens of 3d whorl with 2 glands near base ; anthers 2- or 4-locular, locules opening by valves ; pistil 1, 1-carpellate; ovary 1-locular; placentation basal; ovule 1; stigma subsessile , discoid or capitate. Fruits drupes, drupe borne on pedicel with or without persistent tepals at base, or seated in ± deeply cup-shaped receptacle (cupule), or enclosed in accrescent floral tube . Seed 1; endosperm absent.

Genera ca. 50, species 2000-3000 (9 genera, 13 species in the flora ) : pantropical , a few species also in subtropical and temperate regions

Cassytha is sometimes placed in its own family , Cassythaceae; it is here retained in Lauraceae.[1]

Genus Cinnamomum

Trees or shrubs , evergreen . Bark gray [or brown], furrowed [or smooth ]; bark and leaves often aromatic . Leaves alternate, infrequently opposite. Leaf blade with (1-) 3 primary veins [or infrequently pinnately veined], papery to leathery; surfaces glabrous or variously pubescent ; domatia frequently present. Inflorescences appearing when mature leaves are present, axillary , panicles. Flowers bisexual ; tepals deciduous or persistent , white, green, or yellow, equal; stamens 9, anthers 4-locular, 4-valved (rarely with anthers of inner 3 stamens 2-locular), extrorse ; staminodes 3, apex sagittate or cordate; ovary ovoid-ellipsoid. Drupe bluish black, nearly globose , seated in small cupule with entire single rim or tepals persistent.

Species 300 or more: tropical and subtropical regions, North America, Central America, South America, Asia, Pacific Islands, Australia.

The neotropical species were formerly included in Phoebe, but they are better placed in Cinnamomum.[2]

Taxonomy

Synonyms

Cinnamomum cassia Nees Ex Blume

Notes

Publishing author : J.Graham Publication : Cat. Bomb . Pl. 173

Similar Species

Members of the genus Cinnamomum

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 27 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus:

C. aromaticum (Cassia Cinnamon) · C. bejolghota (and God´s Cinnamon) · C. burmanni (Padang Cassia) · C. burmannii (Malaysian Cinnamon) · C. burmannii f. heyneanum (Narrow-Leaved Batavia Cinnamon) · C. camphora (Camphor Laurel) · C. camphora var. procera (Japanese Camphor) · C. chekiangensis (Camphor Tree) · C. citriodorum (Malabar Cinnamon) · C. elongatum (Laurel Avispillo) · C. glanduliferum (False Camphor Tree) · C. iners (Wild Cinnamon) · C. japonicum (Japanese Cinnamon) · C. loureirii (Saigon Cassia) · C. loureiroi (Vietnamese Cinnamon) · C. macrocarpum (Medicinal Cinnamon) · C. malabathrum (Cinnamon (Western Ghats - India)) · C. mercadoi (Cinamomon) · C. mexicanum (Mexican Cinnamon) · C. montanum (Avispillo) · C. sessilifolium (Cinnamon) · C. sulphuratum (North-India Wild Cinnamon) · C. tamala (Indian Bark) · C. tamala var. albiflorum (Indian-Cassia) · C. tamala var. intermedium (Indian-Cassia) · C. verum (Ceylon Cinnamon Tree) · C. zeilanicum (Sri Lanka Cinnamon)

More Info

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Further Reading

• A class-book of botany, designed for colleges, academies, and other seminaries. Illustrated by a flora of northern, middle, and western states; particularly of the United States north of the Capitol, lat. 38 3/4. Claremont, N. H., Manufacturing Co., S. Ide, agent, 1850. url p. 478.
• A class-book of botany: designed for colleges, academies, and other seminaries: in two parts: part I, The elements of botany: part II, The natural orders: illustrated by a flora of the northern, middle, and western states, particularly of the United States north of the Capitol, lat 38 3/4 / by Alphonso Wood. New York: A.S. Barnes & Burr; c1846. url p. 478.
• An introduction to pharmacognosy / by Smith Ely Jelliffe. London: W. B. Saunders and Company, 1905. url p. 160, p. 257.
• Annals of natural history. London, R. and J.E. Taylor, url p. 184, p. 184, p. 184.
• Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club. 27 1900 New York: Torrey Botanical Club, 1870-1996 url p. 283.
• C. E. Hobbs Botanical hand-book of common local, English, botanical and pharmacopial names arranged in alphabetical order, of most of the crude vegetable drugs, etc., in common use. Especially designed as a reference book for druggists and apothecaries. Comp. and pub. by Charles E. Hobbs. Boston, Printed by C.C. Roberts, 1876. url p. 185.
• C.E. Hobbs' Botanical hand-book: of common local, English, botanical and pharmacopœial names arranged in alphabetical order, of most of the crude vegetable drugs, etc., in common use: their properties, productions and uses in an abb Boston: Printed by C.C. Roberts, 1876. url , , .
• Calcutta journal of natural history, and miscellany of the arts and sciences in India. Calcutta, Bishop's College Press. url p. 242.
• Catalogue of the collections in the museum of the Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain compiled by E.M. Holmes. London, The Society, 1878. url p. 280.
• Class-book of botany: being outlines of the structure, physiology and classification of plants: with a flora of the United States and Canada / by Alphonso Wood. New York: A.S. Barnes & Burr, 1861, c1860. url p. 620.
• Colonial and Indian Exhibition, 1886 official catalogue. London: W. Clowes, 1886. url .
• Comparative anatomy of the vegetative organs of the phanerogams and ferns / by A. de Bary; translated and annotated by F.O. Bower and D.H. Scott; with 241 woodcuts and an index. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1884. url p. 529, p. 632, p. 71.
• Flora medica; a botanical account of all the more important plants used in medicine in different parts of the world. London, Longman, 1838. url p. 329.
• Hortus suburbanus Calcuttensis; A catalogue of the plants which have been cultivated in the Hon. East India Company's botanical garden, Calcutta, and in the Serampore botanical garden. By the late J. O. Voigt, printed under the superintendence of W. Griffith. Calcutta, Bishop's College Press, 1845. url p. 310.
• Introduction to structural and systematic botany and vegetable physiology: being a fifth and revised edition of The botanical text-book / by Asa Gray. New York: Ivison, Blakeman, Taylor, 1877. url p. 467.
• Medicinal plants. Being descriptions with original figures of the principal plants employed in medicine and an account of the characters, properties, and uses of their parts and products of medicinal value. By Robert Bentley and Henry Trimen. Plates by David Blair. In four volumes. London, J. & A. Churchill, 1880. url , .
• Physiological plant anatomy, tr. by Montagu Drummond. London, MacMillan, 1914. url p. 768.
• Proceedings of the United States National Museum. 8 1885 Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, [etc.] url p. 657.
• Suggestions received by the Agricultural & Horticultural Society of India for extending the cultivation and introduction of useful and ornamental plants: with a view to the improvement of the agricultural and commercial resources of India / compiled by Henry Harpur Spry. Calcutta: Bishop's College Press, 1841. url p. 16.
• The Gardeners' chronicle. 1841 London: published for the proprietors, 1841-1843. url p. 278.
• The Journal of the Linnean Society. Botany. 26 1889-90 London: the Society: Longman, Green, Longman, Roberts & Green: ||Williams and Norgate, 1865-1968. url p. 371.
• The Phytologist: a popular botanical miscellany. London, John van Voorst, 1844-56. url p. 395.
• The botanical text-book, an introduction to scientific botany, both structural and systematic. For colleges, schools, and private students. By Asa Gray. New York, Putnam, 1850. url p. 464.
• The flora of British India /By J. D. Hooker assisted by various botanists. Published under the authority of the secretary of state for India in council. London: L. Reeve, 1875-97. url p. 132.
• The flora of the presidency of Bombay / By Theodore Cooke. London: Taylor and Francis, 1903-08. url p. 1058.
• The geography of plants. .. London, American Sunday-School Union;[1850?] url p. 66.
• Wood, C. E. Jr. 1958. The genera of the woody Ranales in the southeastern United States. J. Arnold Arbor. 39: 296-346.
• Rohwer, J. G. 1993. Lauraceae: Nectandra. In: Organization for Flora Neotropica. 1968+. Flora Neotropica. 65+ vols. New York. Monogr. 60.

Notes

Contributors

• Brands, S.J. (comp.) 1989-present. The Taxonomicon. Universal Taxonomic Services, Zwaag, The Netherlands. Accessed January 10, 2012.

Identifiers

• Biodiversity Heritage Library NamebankID: 2670229
• Catalogue of Life Accepted Name Code: ITS-506205
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility Taxonkey: 13763987
• Globally Unique Identifier: urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:463288-1
• GRIN Nomen Number: 70182
• Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) Taxonomic Serial Number (TSN): 506205
• International Plant Names Index (IPNI) ID: 463287-1
• U.S.D.A. Plant Symbol: CICA18
• Zipcode Zoo Species Identifier: 28957

Footnotes

1. Henk van der Werff "Lauraceae". in Flora of North America Vol. 3. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
2. Henk var der Werff "Cinnamomum". in Flora of North America Vol. 3. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]

©2004-2012 David Stang. All rights reserved.