Cinnamon Camphora Oil
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The genus Cinnamomum Schaeffer belongs to the family Lauraceae, which has some 32 genera and 2 000-2 500 species. They are mainly evergreen trees of the tropics and subtropics. The family includes Laurus nobilis L., the sweet bay, which is the laurel of the Romans, and whose leaves are used for culinary purposes; Persea americana Mill., the avocado; and Sassafras albidum (Nutt.) Nees, the sassafras of eastern North America, the root bark of which yields sassafras used as a flavouring material.
By 1780 cinnamon, pepper, cloves and nutmegs had been successfully established in the Seychelles. Fock-Heng (1965) states in that year 'a vessel flying the English flag was sighted entering Victoria Harbour, and the French occupants fearing that the islands might fall into the hands of their enemies, deliberately ordered the burning of the spice plantations.
Cinnamomum vertum is an evergreen tree, which reaches a height of 8-17 m in a wild state. The bark and leaves are strongly aromatic.
The cinnamon in the Seychelles was later found to be Cinnamomum verwn and was spread by birds (see 'Propagation' below). It occurs on the islands of Mahe, which is by far the largest producer, Silhouette, Praslin and La Digue. The total area is estimated at 20 000 acres (8 100 ha) and cinnamon is the second in importance of the Seychelles industries after copra, the principal products being cinnamon bark and cinnamon leaf oil.
At the beginning of the present century, when the Seychelles vanilla industry collapsed due to anthracnose and to the advent of synthetic vanilla, the Seychellois planters turned to cinnamon, which had invaded the deforested slopes of the larger granitic islands and had hardly been touched. The first exports were made in 1908 when a lot of the bigger trees were cut down and 1 202 tonnes of rough bark were exported.
The flowers are borne in lax axillary and terminal panicles on the ends of the twigs. The peduncles are creamy white in colour, softly hairy and 5-7 cm long. The individual flowers are very small, about 3 mm in diameter, pale yellow in colour, with a fetid smell, and each subtended by a small ovate hairy bract. The calyx is campanulatc and pubescent with 6 acutely pointed segments. The corolla is absent. There are 9 stamens, with the six outer stamens being opposite the perianth lobes and an inner whorl of 3, inside which are 3 staminodes. Each perfect stamen has a short, hairy filament with two small glands present at its base and a four-celled anther opening by 4 small flap-shaped valves. The ovary is superior, unilocular with a single ovule, tapering to a short style.
Article Source: Articlelogy.com
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