1380

            Canella winterana (L.) Gaertn

Synonym	:	Canella alba Murray
Family	:	Canellaceae
Local name	:	English- Wild Cinnamon
Flowering and fruiting period	:	Fruiting: March- April
Distribution	:	N. America - southern Florida to the West Indies and northeastern S. America.
Habitat	:	Coastal thickets, hammocks, commonly found on limestone or calcareous soils at around sea level
Uses		The inner bark, which has an aroma of cinnamon and cloves, is used locally as a substitute for cinnamon or as a condiment in its own right. Very pungent, it has a bitter flavour. The bark contains 8% manitol, an essential oil containing eugenol, cineol, pinene and caryophyllene. The aromatic leaves are used as a flavouring. Aromatic, with a peppery, stinging taste.The bark is aromatic, stimulant, stomachic and tonic. Rarely used in modern herbalism.
Key botanical characters: Canella attains in Florida a height of 25 to 30 feet, with a straight trunk eight to 10 inches in diameter. On the mountains of Jamaica, it is said to grow sometimes to the height of 50 feet. The principal branches are slender, horizontal, and spreading, forming a compact round-headed top. The light gray bark of the trunk is an eighth of an inch thick, the surface is broken into many short thick scales rarely more than 2-3 in long, and about twice the thickness of the pale yellow, aromatic inner bark. The leaves are obovate, round or slightly emarginate at the apex, and contracted into a short, stout, grooved petiole; they are 3.5-5.0 in long, 1.5-2.0 in broad, bright deep green, and lustrous. The flowers open in the autumn, and the fruit ripens in March and April, when it is bright crimson, soft, and fleshy, and is eaten by many birds.