Spices and Condiments (1+1)

Description of the plant

• Cinnamon is a bushy, evergreen tree belonging to the family Lauraceae. It may reach a height of about 6-15 m, but in cultivation it is generally coppiced or cut back periodically. Its bark and leaves are strongly aromatic. The leaves are stiff, evergreen, with the petiole 1-2 cm long, grooved on the upper surface; the lamina is ovate or elliptic, 5-17 x 3-10 cm in area. It is strongly 3-veined from near the base, the lateral veins are 3/4 or more in length, it is reddish when young, and turns dark green above with paler veins and pale glaucous green beneath. The flowers are axillary borne in terminal panicles at the ends of twigs, the peduncle is creamy, white and 5-7 cm long.
• The individual flowers are very small, about 3 mm in diameter, with a foetid smell, each subtended by a small ovate hairy bract. It has 6, 9 sepals, companulate, pubescent, the stamens occur in 3 whorls with glands at the base, with hairy filaments and 4-celled anthers. The fruit is a fleshy berry, dark purple, 1-seeded, ovoid, 1.5-2 cm long with an enlarged calyx at the base. In Karnataka, the tree flowers in January and the fruits ripen 6 months later. The somatic chromosome number of C. verum is 2n=24.