Cinnamon

Overview

Cinnamon tree is native to Bangladesh, Borneo, China South-Central, China Southeast, Hainan, Jawa, Lesser Sunda Is., Myanmar, Philippines, Sulawesi, Sumatera, Taiwan, and Vietnam. It is introduced to Cuba, Gulf of Guinea Is., Hawaii, and Mauritius. Cinnamon is native to sparse or dense forests and thickets, often along streams. The tree is harvested from the wild and also cultivated for a range of uses, including as spice, medicine and source of essential oils and wood. The bark is traded, both locally and internationally.

Vernacular Names

Dalcini (India), Yin xiang (Chinese), Jawa nikkei (Japanese), Canelle de Padang (French), Indonesischer Zimt (German), Indonesische Kaneel (Dutch), Suramarit (Thai)
 

Agroecology

Cinnamon is commonly found in moist tropical forest where the elevations is up to 2,000 m, it grows best between 500 and 1500 m. The tree grows best in areas where annual daytime temperatures are within the range 20-28 °C and a mean annual rainfall in the range 2,000-2,500 mm. Prefers a fertile, sandy, moisture-retentive in full sun or partial shade, with pH in the range of 5.5–6.

Morphology

• Stems - with an aromatic bark and smooth, angular branches.
• Leaves - opposite or sub-opposite, pale red and finely hairy when young, when older glabrous and glossy green above, glaucous pruinose below, 7 to 15 cm long, 3 cm wide, pointed at both ends, on petioles less than 1 cm long.
• Flowers - Inflorescence a short axillary raceme, yellowish white and followed by round drupes of about 8 mm in diameter
• Fruits - obovately ellipsoid with pointed tips, about 1.25 cm long and 7.5 mm wide, lucid green with minute whitish spots when unripe and a shinning steel blue when ripe.

Cultivation

• Propagation from seeds and cuttings of young shoots.
• Seeds take 1 to 6 months to germinate.
• After two to three years trees are cut back to produce shoots.
• First harvest about 4 to 5 years after planting
   

Chemical Constituents

Bark: tannins, cinnamaldehyde, benzalde-hyde and cuminaldehyde, phenols, eugenol. The plant: cinnamyl alcohol, coumarin, cinnamic acid, cinnamaldehyde, anthocyanin, essential oils.

Traditional Medicinal Uses

• Bark: lower blood sugar levels, relieve stomach cramps, relieve flatulence, increase appetite, treat diarrhea, antimicrobial, antiseptic, anaesthetic, treatment against parasites.
• In European phytomedicine, cassia oil (0.05-0.2 g daily intake) is used in teas and other galenicals for its antibacterial, carminative, and fungistatic properties, and also for loss of appetite and dyspeptic disturbances.
• Bark is also used in powder form to treat anorexia, common cold, influenza, dyspepsia with nausea, dental treatment, analgesic, blood circulation promotion, and tumors treatment.
• In Hawaii, it is used as a tonic and stimulant.