Cinnamomum tamala

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

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

Notes

Publishing author : T.Nees & Eberm. Publication : Handb. Med. Pharm. Bot. ii. 426.

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

• Search for Pictures: images.google.com
• Search for Scholarly Articles: Google Scholar
• Search using Scientific Name and Vernacular Names: All the Web | AltaVista Canada | AltaVista | Excite | Google | HotBot | Lycos
• Search using Specialized Databases: GenBank | Medline | Scirus | CISTI/CAL | Agricola Periodicals | Agricola Books

Further Reading

• An enumeration of Philippine flowering plants, Manila, Bureau of Printing, 1922-26. url p. 187.
• Botanical publications of E.D. Merrill. [New York, etc., 1899- url p. 187.
• Burma, its people and productions; or, Notes on the fauna, flora, and minerals of Tenasserim, Pegu, and Burma. Hertford: S. Austin, 1882-1883. url p. 288.
• 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. 161.
• 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 .
• Check-list of the species of fishes known from the Philippine Archipelago, Manila, Bureau of printing, 1910. url p. 152, p. 233.
• Chronological history of plants: man's record of his own existence illustrated through their names, uses, and companionship. Boston, Little, Brown & company, 1879. url .
• Contributions from the United States National Herbarium 45 2003 Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1890- url p. 277, p. 404, p. 413, p. 430, p. 449, p. 461, p. 509.
• Journal of ethnobiology. 23 2003 Flagstaff, Ariz.: Center for Western Studies, 1981- url p. 223.
• Plantae Wilsonianae; an enumeration of the woody plants collected in western China for the Arnold arboretum of Harvard university during the years 1907, 1908, and 1910, by E. H. Wilson, ed. by Charles Sprague Sargent. Cambridge, University Press, 1913-17. url p. 67.
• Sargent, C. S. Plantae Wilsonianae: an enumeration of the woody plants collected in western China for the Arnold arboretum of Harvard university during the years 1907, 1908, and 1910 /by E. H. Wilson, ed. by Charles Sprague Sargent. 2 1916 Cambridge: The University press, 1913-17. url p. 67.
• Sino-Iranica; Chinese contributions to the history of civilization in ancient Iran, with special reference to the history of cultivated plants and products / by Berthold Laufer -- Chicago, 1919. url p. 618, p. 618.
• 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. 195.
• The commercial products of India: being an abridgment of The dictionary of the economic products of India / by Sir George Watt; published under the authority of His Majesty's secretary of state for India in council. London: J. Murray, 1908. url p. 311, p. 312.
• The medicinal plants of the PHilippines, by T. H. Pardo de Tavera. .. tr. and rev. by Jerome B. Thomas, jr. Philadelphia, P. Blakiston's son & co.1901. url .
• The medicinal plants of the Philippines / by T. H. Pardo de Tavera; translated and revised by Jerome B. Thomas. Philadelphia, P. Blakiston's son & co., 1901. url p. 208, p. xv.
• 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

• Bisby, F.A., Y.R. Roskov, M.A. Ruggiero, T.M. Orrell, L.E. Paglinawan, P.W. Brewer, N. Bailly, J. van Hertum, eds (2007). Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life: 2007 Annual Checklist. Species 2000: Reading, U.K.
• Brands, S.J. (comp.) 1989-present. The Taxonomicon. Universal Taxonomic Services, Zwaag, The Netherlands. Accessed January 10, 2012.
• Ruggiero M., Gordon D., Bailly N., Kirk P., Nicolson D. (2011). The Catalogue of Life Taxonomic Classification, Edition 2, Part A. In: Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life: 2011 Annual Checklist (Bisby F.A., Roskov Y.R., Orrell T.M., Nicolson D., Paglinawan L.E., Bailly N., Kirk P.M., Bourgoin T., Baillargeon G., Ouvrard D., eds). DVD; Species 2000: Reading, UK.
• The International Plant Names Index. Accessed Dec 27, 2011.
• USDA, ARS, National Genetic Resources Program. Germplasm Resources Information Network - (GRIN) [Online Database]. National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland. URL (April 27, 2008)
• USDA, NRCS. 2005. The PLANTS Database, Version 3.5 (http://plants.usda.gov). National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, LA 70874-4490 USA.

Identifiers

• Biodiversity Heritage Library NamebankID: 3876858
• Catalogue of Life Accepted Name Code: ITS-506207
• Globally Unique Identifier: urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:77846-3
• GRIN Nomen Number: 400140
• Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) Taxonomic Serial Number (TSN): 506207
• International Plant Names Index (IPNI) ID: 77846-3
• U.S.D.A. Plant Symbol: CITA2
• Zipcode Zoo Species Identifier: 30706

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.