The plants of the Bible / [John Hutton Balfour].

  • Balfour, John Hutton, 1808-1884.
Date:
1885
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The plants of the Bible / [John Hutton Balfour]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    CINNAMON-TREE AND CASSIA-TREE. [Cinnamomum zeylanicum, Breyne; and Cinnamomum Cassia, Bl.) “ Calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense.” Song of Sol. iv. 14. INNAMON is mentioned in several places in the Old Testament, under the Hebrew name of kinnamon. The plant is Cinnamomum zeylanicum of botanists. It belongs to the natural order Laurinese, the Laurel family. In this order are found many aromatic plants, yielding volatile oils and tonic barks. (See the description of the Bay-tree.) The plant grows in India; and its bark, under the name of cinnamon, is imported at the present day from Ceylon, and also from the Malabar coast, in bales and chests, the bundles weighing about one pound each. It was imported into India by the Phoenicians or the Arabians. It is distinguished from other allied species by its acuminated tricostate leaves, the ribs com- ing into contact at the base, but not uniting. The best cinnamon is procured from branches three years old. The outer bark is of a whitish-gray colour, and is nearly