Cinnamomum micranthum seed

LATIN NAME: Cinnamomum micranthum

COMMON NAME: Small-Flowered Cinnamon

The small-flowered cinnamon is a handsome, upright, evergreen tree of the warm forests, and its fine, oval or lance-shaped, glossy, aromatic leaves and its small, inconspicuous, yellowish-green flowers, followed by the small, oval, black, fleshy fruits, have made it a treasured and fine tree of the region. It grows as an upright, evergreen tree, reaching up to twenty metres or more, with the upright, tapering trunk bearing the opposite, oval or lance-shaped, pointed, glossy, strongly aromatic leaves and, through the late spring, the small, inconspicuous, yellowish-green flowers in the small clusters, followed by the small, oval, black, fleshy, single-seeded fruits. It is a species of the flowering tree in the laurel family, and it is native to the warm forests of the southern China, while it is treasured for its fine, aromatic bark and leaves, and it is known as the small-flowered cinnamon.

In the laurel family it is the glossy, aromatic cinnamon of the southern forests, a species whose sweet, warming bark and leaves have carried the spice trade of the east.

Scientific Research & Plant Biotechnology

The small-flowered cinnamon holds a place in the food-science papers of the spice trees, where the aromatic bark and the leaves are studied for their fine, sweet, warming volatile oils. The botanists have mapped its place in the laurel family and the warm forest flora of the southern China, and the foresters have studied the useful wood and the aromatic bark of the region. It is a tree of the kitchen and the forest in one, and the growers of the warm-region evergreens keep it in their catalogues.

Ecological & Economic Value & Wide Applications

In the warm garden, the small-flowered cinnamon is the glossy, aromatic tree of the sheltered corner. Its small flowers feed the insects, its black fruits feed the birds, and the aromatic, evergreen crown gives the garden shade and scent through the year. The aromatic bark and leaves have served the fine cooking and the flavouring of the region, and the tree grows well in the rich, moist, well-drained ground. Glossy, aromatic and useful.

These are fresh-loving seeds — clean them off the small, black fruits and sow them straight away at a shallow depth in pots of rich, moist, free-draining soil, keep the pots in a sheltered, half-shaded spot and never let them dry out, and the first leaves will come up steadily.