Cinnamon is the dried inner bark of various evergreen trees belonging to
the genus Cinnamomum. It has a warm and aromatic flavour and fragrance is
sweet and woody in both ground and stick forms. When distilled it only
gives a very small quantity of oil, with a delicious flavour. The best
varieties are pale and parchment-like in appearance.
The commercial Cinnamon bark is the dried inner bark of the shoots. Both
the bark and leaves are aromatic.
Cinnamon is from a tropical evergreen tree of the laurel family growing
up to 7m (56 ft) in its wild state. It has thick scabrous bark, strong
branches, young shoots speckled greeny orange.
The bark is smooth and yellowish.
The leaves are ovate, petiolate, deeply veined leaves that are dark green
on top, lighter green underneath. They become leathery when mature, upper
side shiny green, underside lighter. They when bruised smell spicy and
have a hot taste.
The flowers are yellowish-white with a disagreeable odour that bears dark
purple berries.
The fruit is an oval berry like an acorn in its receptacle, is bluish when
ripe with white spots on it, bigger than a blackberry.