The genus Cinnamomum

344 M. Shylaja, P.N. Ravindran and K. Nirmal Babu
The clevage site in the adenosine at position 4324 (rat liver 28 SrRNA) is embedded in
the highly conserved ricin/alpha-sarcin (‘R/S’) domain.
C. pauciflorum Nees
C. pauciflorum Nees in Wallich, Pl. Asiat. rar.2, 75, 1831; in Flora 15(1), 587, 596, 601,
1831; Syst. Laur. 68, 1836; Meissner in DC Prodr. 15(1)17, 1864; Miquel, Ann. Mus.
bot. Lugd. bat. 1, 268, 1864; Gamble, Man. Ind. Timbers, 305, 1881; Hooker f.
F.Br.Ind.5, 129, 1886, Brandis, Ind. Trees 533,1906, Kanjilal et al. Fl. Assam 4, 47,
1940.
This is a small tree occurring in north-eastern India, in Assam, and Khassia hills.
This is a species with small leaves, glaucous and firmly reticulated beneath, and having
a strong aroma and flavour of cumin. The panicles are small, very few flowered, sometimes
reduced to three flowers. The fruiting calyx is very small. Nath et al. (1996)
examined the essential oil derived from leaf and stem bark and found that the main
component was cuminaldehyde, 94%, 92.4% and 85%, respectively, in leaf, root bark
and stem bark oils. This is the only Cinnamomum species having cuminaldehyde as the
predominant component.
C. parthenoxylon (Jack.) Nees
C. parthenoxylon ( Jack.) Nees in Wallich, Pl. Asia. rar.2, 72, 1831; Meissner in
DC Prodr.15(1), 26 et 504, 1864; Bentham, Fl. Hongkong, 290,1861; Baillon, Hist.
Pl. 2, 461, 1872; For. Fl. Br. Burma, 2, 289,1877; Gamble, Man, Ind. Timbers, 305,
1881, Hookerf. Fl. Brit. India, 5, 135, 1886; Watt. Dict. Eco. Prod. India,
2, 318,1889; Brandis, Ind. Trees, 534, 1906; Matsumura, Index. Plants of Jap. 2(2),
135, 1912; Burkill, Dict. eco. prod. Mal. pen.1, 554, 1935 (See Kostermans (1964)
for full citation).
This species occurs in Vietnam, China, Indo-Malayan and the adjoining regions such
as the Java-Sumatera Islands of Indonesia. The wood of this species is an orange-brown.
It is scented and moderately hard and used for construction and as a cheap cabinet
wood. Hooker included this species under section camphora. The leaves are alternate,
elliptic ovate or oblong, subcaudate-accuminate, penninerved, often glaucous beneath;
panicles are short, nearly glabrous, shorter than the leaves, perianth nearly glabrous, not
pubescent within, fruit 8–9 mm in diameter; globose. Dung et al. (1997) have analysed
the composition of trees growing in Vietnam and identified more than 30 compounds
in the root bark oil and 20 compounds in the wood oil. The main constituent in the
root bark oil is benzyl benzoate (52.0%), whereas the wood oil consists mainly of Safrole
(90.3%). They also found that the oil yield and safrole content of trees from different
geographic regions of Vietnam did not vary much.
Baruah and Nath (2000b) investigated two chemically distinct plant populations from
the north-east of India. They were morphologically alike, but different in their odour
characteristics. They were medium large evergreen trees having aromatic plant parts.
The compounds present in the leaf and bark oils of two variants are given in Table 15.11.
The first variant yielded 3% leaf oil and 0.2% bark oil. The second variant yielded 5%
leaf oil and 0.5% bark oil. In the leaf and bark oils of the first variant, the predominant
component was 1,8-cineole (64.7 and 53%, respectively) while in the second variant the
predominant compound was linalool (86.9 and 87.12%, respectively, in leaf and bark).