The genus Cinnamomum

342 M. Shylaja, P.N. Ravindran and K. Nirmal Babu
a holding substratum for steaming during the preparation of certain dishes (called
‘thirali’ or elayappam in the local language). The wood is a good quality firewood.
Indiscriminate felling led to drastic reduction in the population of this species.
Shylaja (1984) and Ravindran et al. (1991) carried out detailed study of this species,
and recorded much variability in vegetative morphology. Leaf morphology is the most
variable, especially the leaf size; the L/B values vary from 2.19 to 4.25. The leaves are
minutely hairy, the hair frequency can be sparse or moderately dense. Leaf anatomical
characteristics such as leaf thickness, relative thickness of the palisade and spongy
tissues, stomatal frequency and size also showed variations. Inflorescences of this species
were found to fall under three categories: (i) equal to or slightly longer or shorter than
the leaves, few or many flowered; (ii) distinctly longer than the leaves, large, showy,
many flowered; and (iii) distinctly shorter than the leaves, and few flowered.
Shylaja (1984) and Ravindran et al. (1991, 1996) carried out studies using cluster
analysis and principle component analysis and found that C. malabatrum collections
got into different clusters. A chemotaxonomic study (Shylaja, 1984; Ravindran
et al., 1992) also indicated terpenoid and flavonoid variability at the infraspecific
level. Shylaja (1984) distinguished three distinct varieties of C. malabatrum, based
on inflorescence characteristics (C. malabatrum, var. malabatrum; var. giganteum, var.
pauciflorum). Unfortunately information on the essential oil composition of this
species is not available.
C. osmeophleum Kan.
C. osmeophleum Kanehira, Formos. Trees 428, 1917; id 206, 1936; Hayata Icon. Pl.
Formos. 10, 29, 1921; Sasaki, List of pl. Formosa 193, 1928; Catal. Gvt. Herb. Taihoku
221, 1930; Makino & Nemoto Fl. Jap. ed.2. 366,1931; Nakai in J. Jap. Bot. 16(3)130,
1940; Chen Yung, Chinese trees, 24, 1957.
This species occurs mainly in Taiwan. The leaf of this species is much sweeter and
aromatic than other species occurring in the region. Hussain et al. (1986) carried out a
chemical analysis of the leaves. They found that an 80% methanolic extract of the leaf
is highly sweet; the compound responsible for this characteristic was identified as transcinnamaldehyde,
present to the extent of 1.03% w/w. This compound was estimated to
be around 50 times sweeter than a 0.5% w/v solution of sucrose. GC-MS analysis of the
leaf extract led to the identification of the major compounds listed in Table 15. 9.
In addition to being sweet, trans-cinnamaldehyde has a pungent and spicy taste. The
leaf of this species is used in place of Chinese cassia leaves both for spicing dishes and
medicinal uses.
C. porrectum (Roxb.) Kosterm.
C. porrectum (Roxb.) Kostermans in J. Sci. Res. Indon. 1, 126 (27), 1952; Commun. For
Res. Inst; Bogor 57, 24, 1957; Stern in Trop Woods, 100, 24, 1954.
This Chinese species, known as Jiang-Zhang, is used in Chinese medicine. Liangfang
et al. (1984) analysed the chemical composition. The leaves of this species contains
0.5–0.8% oil. The main constituents of the oil is citral (--citral – 64.11%). Fortyseven
compounds were identified by the above workers (Table 15.10).
Xiang Dong et al. (1996) identified a new type of ribosome inactivating protein (RIP)
from the seeds of C. porrectum. This RIP (porrectin) is a glycoprotein having a mw of