Cassia
Cassia, under the name of Kwei, is mentioned in the earliest Chinese herbal—that of the Emperor Shena-ming, who reigned about 2700 B. C.; in the ancient Chinese classics, and in Rh-ya an herbal dating from 1200 B. C. In the Hai-yao-pen-ts’ao, written in the eighth century, mention is made of Tien-chu Kwei. Tien-chu is the ancient name for India, perhaps the allusion may be to the cassia bark of Malabar. In connection with these extremely early references to the spice, it may be stated that a bark supposed to be cassia is mentioned as imported into Egypt together with gold, ivory, frankincense, precious woods and apes, in the 17th century B. C. The accounts given by Dioscondes, Ptolemy and the author of the Periphes of the Erythrean Sea, that cinnamon and cassia were obtained from Arabia and eastern Africa; and we further know that the importers were Phoenicians who traded by Egypt and the Red Sea with Arabia, and it was imported hither from southern China.
Cassia, according to Marshall and others, is the bark of the old branches and trunks of the cinnamon zeylanicium, while others assert that it is the bark of an entirely different species, namely, cinnamon cassia, a native of China, but also grown in Java. This view is the more probable, as no cassia is exported from Ceylon, it almost all coming from Canton. Regents have also very different effects on the infusion and oil of these two barks, which conclusively shows that they are obtained from different species. Cassia comes in bales, 2 to 4 lbs., bound by strips from the bark of some other tree. The pipes or quills are thicker and rolled once or twice, and never contain thinner pieces within; the diameter of the bark is much thicker, harder, and not as carefully scraped. The color is a deeper browinsh-fawn color. The taste is more acridly aromatic, pungent sweet, at the same time more powerfully astringent yet muclignious. Cassia is often substituted for cinnamon. It is adulterated with cassia lignea, the bark of a degenerate variety of cinnamon zeylanicium growing in Malabar, Penang and Silhet.
Other varieties of cassia are: Saigon cassia, the bark of an unknown species which appeared in commerce about 1875. The outer bark is not removed, has a gray or grayish-brown color, is covered externally with whitish blotches, warts or wrinkles.
C. Aromaticum is believed to be the cinnamon of China and Cochin China, growing in the provinces of Kwantung and Kwangsi. The leaves are very much larger than the Ceylon tree, hang down from the stalks and have never more than three ribs. This is the species that yields the cassia buds.
C. Tamala is a native of India, wild in Derwanee and Gongachora. It is cultivated in the gardens of Rungpoor. The dried leaves have an aromatic taste.
C. Loureirii grows in the lofty mountains of Cochin China, to the west towards Laos, Japan. The flowers of cassia are produced by this species. The old and young branches are worthless, but the middle-sized shoots produce a bark that is superior to that of Ceylon. None of it is exported.
C. Culilawan is a native of Amboyna. The bark when dry is aromatic like cloves, but less pungent and sweeter. It is used by the natives of Amboyna as an internal medicine and as a stimulating linament.
C. Rubrium grows in Cochin China, and contains an essential oil, smelling of cloves, but not so agreeable.
C. Sintoc is a tree about 80 ft. high, growing in the Neilgherry mountains, India, and the higher mountains of Java. The bark is of the same quality as the Amboyna cassia, but not so agreeable. It is more bitter and powdery when chewed.
C. Xanthaneuron is a native of the Papuan islands and the Moluccas. The bark when fresh is very fragrant, but it soon loses its quality.
C. Nitidum is a native of India. It is a shrub or small tree.
C. Javanicum grows in Java and Borneo. It is a tree of about 20 to 30 ft. high. The dried bark is of a deep cinnamon brown color; more bitter than the Ceylon cinnamon, and the leaves when rubbed have a sharp aromatic odor.
Cinnamon of the Ceylon type is cultivated in Guyana, the Isle of St. Vincent, Cape de Verde, Brazil, the Isle of France, Pondicheny, Guadaloupe and elsewhere. There is, however, no probability that the tree will succeed as an article of commerce that has not the hot, damp insular climate and bright light of Ceylon.
The barks of all these different species, including that of Ceylon, are classed as “cinnamon” in the pharmacopias of Austria, Germany, Hungary, Russia, the United States, France, Spain, Denmark and Switzerland, while in the United Kingdom cinnamon must be the bark of the Ceylon plant C. zeylanicium; the others being classed as cassia.