Cinnamon
Cinnamon
Local name: ‘Daruchini’
Scientific name: Cinnamomum verum
Taxonomic Position According to Cronquist (1981)
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Megnoliophyta
Order Laurales
Family: Lauraceae
Genus: Cinnamomum
Species: C. verum
Botanical Description of Cinnamon
Habit: Cinnamon is a much-branched evergreen tree of 8-17 m height in the wild state.
Root: The pants has a deep and extensive root system, with a well -developed tap- root and numerous spreading laterals; after pruning new shoots arise from the roots
Stem: The trunk is low branching and the wild form can have a diameter of 60 cm. bark and leaves are strongly aromatic. The bark on young shoots is smooth and pale-brown; on mature stems and branches it is rough and dark brown or greyish-brown.
Cinnamon sticks on a white background
Leaf: The leaves are opposite and have a grooved petiole1-2 cm in length. The leaf-blade is is stiff, ovate or eliptical, 5-25 cm x 3-10 cm, with three outstanding , whitish green veins from the base to the tip, and two or more lateral veins to about three quarters the length of the leaf; the base is rounded and the tip acuminate
Flower: The inflorescence is an axillary and terminal panicle drooping, about 5- 10 cm long, on a soft hairy, white peduncle. The flowers are small, only about 3 mm in diameter, with a foetid smell. Each flower is subtended by a small ovate, hairy bract. The flower consists of a six pointed, campanulate, pubescent, yellow- white calyx, corona is absent; there are nine stamens, with glands at the base; ovary is superior, single celled, with a single ovule and a short style.
Fruit: The fruit is a fleshy, ovoid and pointed drupe, about 15 mm long, and with a persistent calyx around the base
Economic Importance
Used as spices
Used as medicine
Cinnamon variety developed by Spices Research Center, BARI