The genus Cinnamomum

204 Akhil Baruah and Subhan C. Nath
imperfect, midrib moderate, 2° veins distinct, sub-parallel, bent at middle; petiole up
to 1.1 cm long, concave above; panicle terminal to sub-terminal or solitary axillary,
shorter than leaves, up to 8.5 cm long, lax and rather few flowered, minutely tomentose,
branchlets few, slender, flowers densely minutely pilose, pale yellow, pedicel up to
5 mm long, perianth 3 3, thickish, ovate, acutish, 2–4 mm long, anther oblong,
four-locular, pollen dehiscence valvular, introrse, whorl III extrorse, filament pilose,
glands adnate to the basal part of the filament of slightly higher up; staminode 3, 1 mm
long, pilose, head narrowly sagittate; ovary ellipsoid, as long as the style, stigma
minute, peltate; fruiting peduncle stout, 4–5 mm long at the time of fruit initiation.
Significant foliar epidermal and venation characteristics: Epidermal cells pentagonal to
polygonal and moderately sinuous, hypostomatic, stomata sunken, stomata/mm2 511,
stomatal index 16.46, areoles trigonal to polygonal, veinlet entering present, average
frequency of areole/mm2 23.13 (Baruah, 2000; Baruah and Nath, 1998).
Significant essential oil characteristics: Leaves are aromatic and yield volatile oil. Oil
yield 0.70% (FWB). Colourless. Refractive Index (28 °C) 1.4721. On GC analysis 13
components representing 93.44% of the total oil of the leaves can be identified (Nath
et al., 1999) where linalool alone constitutes 60.73% of the oil. Other components
of above 1% concentration in the oil are benzaldehyde (1.40%), -pinene (10.54%),
camphene (3.06%), -pinene (10.42%), limonene (3.21%) and geraniol (2.24%).
Phenology: Flowers from September–November; Fruits from December–February.
Occurrence and distribution: Found in the North Cachar Hills district of Assam,
sporadic in occurrence between altitudes of 800–1230 m.
Use: Leaves are commonly used locally as tejpat and are also sold in the local markets.
Cultivation and Processing
C. tamala is the main source of Indian cassia or tejpat and is cultivated in certain parts
of Khasi, Jaintia, the Garo Hills of Meghalaya and the North Cachar Hills of Assam for
commercial purposes. Shillong is the main market for tejpat, from where it is transported
to other places. Additionally, throughout the north-east region of India, local
people cultivate this tree in their own gardens to meet their domestic needs.
Tejpat trees are planted at a spacing of 3 m 2 m apart in regular plantations.
Seedlings are raised in beds and planted out permanently when the plants are four to five
years old. The trees take six to nine years to grow and harvesting of the leaves is done
when trees are eight to ten years old, continuing for a century. No special care is required
for cultivation. Mature leaves are collected during October to December until March, i.e.
between the monsoons, as rains effect the aroma and quality of leaves. Leaf harvesting is
carried out every year for young, vigorous plants and in alternate years for old and weak
trees. Leaves are collected (small branches with leaves are also tied into bundles), dried
in the sun and marketed. A single tree yields about 9–19 kg of leaves every year. The
cultivation of tejpat forms part of an agro-forestry system in north-east India.
Chemical Composition
Leaves and bark are mildly aromatic, and yield on distillation an essential oil of
about 0.13–2% concentration. The oil resembles cinnamon leaf oil and contains