Useful Knowledge: Volume 2. Vegetables / Or, a familiar account of the various productions of nature

CLASS IX. ENNEANDRIA. MONOGYNIA.

127. CINNAMON is the under bark of the branches of a tree of the bay tribe (Laurus cinnamomum, Fig. 40,) which is chiefly found in the island of Ceylon, but which also grows in Malabar and other parts of the East Indies.

This tree attains the height of twenty or thirty feet. Its leaves are oval, each from four to six inches long, and marked with three principal nerves. The flowers stand on slender footstalks, and are of pale yellow colour; and the fruit is somewhat shaped like an acorn.

There are two principal seasons of the year in which the Ceylonese enter their woods for the purpose of barking the cinnamon trees. The first of these commences in April, and the last in November: but the former is that in which the great crop is obtained. In this operation the branches of three years' growth are cut down, and the outside pellicle of the bark is scraped away. The twigs are then ripped up lengthways with a knife, and the bark is gradually loosened till it can be entirely taken off. It is then cut into slices, which, on being exposed to the sun, curl up in drying. The smaller pieces or quills, as they are called, are inserted into the larger ones, and the whole are afterwards tied into bundles.

Cinnamon is examined and arranged, according to its quality, by persons who, for this purpose, are obliged to taste and chew it. This is a very troublesome and disagreeable work; and few persons are able to continue it more than two or three days successively, as the cinnamon deprives the tongue and lips of all the mucus with which they are covered. After this examination, the bundles are made up to the length of about four feet, and weight of eighty-eight pounds each.

From the roots of the trees numerous offsets shoot up. These, when they have attained the height of about ten feet, are cut down and barked, being then about the thickness of a common walking-stick. The cinnamon which they yield is much finer than any other.

A French ship, bound in 1782, from the island of Bourbon, to Cape FranÇois in St. Domingo, and having on board various oriental productions, the cinnamon tree among the rest, was taken by the late Admiral Rodney, who presented the trees to the assembly of Jamaica; and, from this parent stock, different parts of that island were afterwards supplied. In Ceylon the cinnamon trees are said to be so common as to be used for fuel and other domestic purposes.

The smell of cinnamon, particularly of the thinnest pieces, is delightfully fragrant; and its taste is pungent and aromatic, with considerable sweetness and astringency. If infused in boiling water in a covered vessel, it gives out much of its grateful flavour, and forms an agreeable liquid. An oil is extracted from cinnamon, which is heavier than water. This is prepared in Ceylon, and almost wholly from the small and broken pieces. It is, however, obtained in such small quantity that the oil of cassia (128) is generally substituted for it. Indeed the cassia bark is often substituted for cinnamon, to which it has considerable resemblance, although, in its qualities, it is much weaker, and although it is immediately distinguishable by its slimy taste.

The virtues of cinnamon are not confined to the bark. The leaves, the fruit, and the root all yield oil of considerable value. That from the fruit is highly fragrant, of thick consistence, and, in Ceylon, was formerly made into candles for the exclusive use of the king.

128. WILD CINNAMON, or CASSIA, is the bark of a tree of the bay tribe (Laurus cassia), which grows in the East Indies and China, and is distinguished by having spear-shaped leaves, each with three nerves.

This bark was well known to the ancients, and highly esteemed by them: but, since the use of cinnamon has been generally adopted, the cassia bark has fallen into disrepute on account of its inferiority. It is thicker and more coarse than cinnamon, of weaker quality, and abounds more with a viscid mucilaginous matter. For many purposes, however, cassia, as being much less expensive, is substituted for cinnamon, but more particularly for the preparation of what is called oil of cinnamon: and nearly the whole of what is at present sold under the name either of simple or spirituous cinnamon water is prepared from cassia.

The buds, as well as the bark, of this tree are used in culinary preparations, and for several other purposes. They are chiefly imported from China.

129. CAMPHOR is a white resinous production of peculiar and powerful smell, which is extracted from two or three kinds of trees of the bay tribe that grow in the islands of the East Indies, and in China.

Of these the principal is Laurus camphora (Fig. 41). It is of considerable height, much branched, and has spear-shaped leaves, with nerves, of pale yellowish green colour on the upper side, and bluish green beneath. The flowers are small and white, and stand on stalks which issue from the junction of the leaves and branches.

Camphor is found in every part of the trees; in the interstices of the perpendicular fibres, and in veins of the wood; in the crevices and knots, in the pith, and in the roots. The modes by which it is extracted differ in different countries. In Borneo and Sumatra, the largest pieces are picked out with sharp instruments; and the smaller ones are procured by rasps, to which, along with bits of wood and other impurities, they adhere. The Chinese cut off the branches, chop them very small, and place them in spring water for some days. They then put them into a kettle, and boil them for a certain time, during which they keep constantly stirring them with a stick. As soon as the camphor, in a white and frosted appearance, is observed to adhere to the stick, the whole is strained. The liquor is subsequently poured into a basin, and, after some hours, the camphor coagulates into a solid mass.

In Japan it is usual to obtain camphor by cutting the roots and extremities of the branches into chips, and exposing them to the steam of water in close vessels. In other countries the roots, wood, and leaves, are all boiled in large iron pots, having a kind of tubular apparatus, which is stuffed with straw, and leads to certain large vessels called receivers. In this operation most of the camphor becomes condensed in a solid form amongst the straw; and the remainder passes with the water into the receiver.

In a crude state camphor is formed into irregular lumps of yellowish grey colour, somewhat resembling nitre, or saltpetre. It is imported into Europe in canisters; and the refining of it was long kept a secret by the Venetians. The Dutch have since performed this work; and large quantities of camphor are now also refined by some of the English chemists. The best camphor is imported from Sumatra.

The principal use of this drug is in medicine; and it was formerly in high repute. Dr. Cullen says that it has been employed with advantage in fevers of almost all kinds: but, since the free use of opium has been introduced, camphor has been little employed in this country, though its utility has been fully established by some of the most eminent practitioners of the Continent. It has often been found to relieve tooth-ache and rheumatism. Several preparations of camphor, in combination with other substances, are used in medicine, of which, perhaps, the most common is that with spirit of wine. To insects the effluvium of camphor is so disagreeable that they quickly avoid it. Hence it is customary to place pieces of it in collections of natural history, to prevent their destruction by these voracious little creatures.

For carpenters' work the wood of the camphor tree is much in request. It is light and durable; and, in consequence of long retaining its aromatic smell, is not liable to be injured by insects.

Plants of the camphor and cinnamon trees were captured, from the French, in 1782, by Admiral Rodney, and afterwards conveyed to Jamaica, and propagated there.

Several shrubs and plants of our own country contain camphor in considerable quantity. The principal of these are rosemary, sage, lavender, and marjoram.

130. The COMMON SWEET BAY (Laurus nobilis) is an evergreen shrub, which grows in Italy and other southern parts of Europe, and is principally celebrated as that which was anciently used to form the crown of victory among poets.

Its leaves are of shining green colour, somewhat spear-shaped, and often waved towards the edge. The flowers appear in April and May, in clusters of three or four together on short footstalks. The corolla is in four segments of yellowish white colour, and is succeeded by an oval berry covered with a dark green rind.

This handsome shrub is common in our gardens and shrubberies. Its leaves afford, by distillation, an useful oil, which is occasionally employed in medicine. They are also employed, in cookery, to flavour custards, puddings, stews, and pickles; and Dr. Woodville assures us that they may thus be used not only with safety, but even with advantage, as assisting digestion.

The berries or fruit of the bay tree, which have an aromatic smell, and a warm, bitterish, and pungent taste, were much used by the ancient Romans for culinary purposes. We import them chiefly from the coasts of the Mediterranean. From the berries, in a recent state, the people of Spain and Italy obtain, by pressure, a green aromatic oil, which is employed in medicine, externally, as a stimulant in nervous, paralytic, and other disorders.

131. The ALLIGATOR PEAR is a pear-shaped fruit, produced by a species of bay tree (Laurus persea), that is much cultivated in the West Indies.

This tree, which is an evergreen, has a straight stem, and grows to a considerable height. Its leaves are somewhat oval, leathery, transversely veined, and of beautiful green colour; and the flowers grow in bunches.

To the inhabitants of the West Indian islands, particularly the negroes, this fruit, which ripens in the months of August and September, is an agreeable, and, in some respects, an important article of diet. When ripe the pulp is of yellow colour, of consistence somewhat harder than that of butter, and, in taste, not much unlike marrow. The negroes frequently make their meals of these pears, a little salt, and plantains; and they are occasionally served up at the tables of the white people as fruit.

Their exterior surface is covered with a green skin; and in the centre there is a large round seed or stone, extremely hard and woody, with an uneven surface. This stone is used for the marking of linen. The cloth is held or tied over the stone; and the letters are pricked by a needle, through the cloth, into the outer covering of the stone. By this means it is stained of an indelible reddish brown colour, in the direction along which the needle has passed. The leaves are used by the negroes medicinally.

132. SASSAFRAS is the wood of a North American tree of the bay tribe (Lauras sassafras), and is imported into Europe in long straight pieces, which are of light and porous texture, and covered with a rough fungous bark.

This tree is sometimes twenty or thirty feet high. The branches are crooked, and the leaves various, both in form and size, some of them being oval and entire, and others having two or three lobes. They are pale green, and downy beneath. The flowers, which are of a dingy yellow colour, appear in pendant spikes.

This wood has a fragrant smell, and an aromatic and somewhat acrid, though sweetish taste, that are also observable in the bark, the smaller twigs, and the roots, all of which are imported into this country as well as the wood. Infusions and decoctions of sassafras are frequently taken as a medicine for improving the tone of the stomach and bowels, in persons whose humours are in a vitiated state. Soon after its introduction into Europe, in the year 1560, this medicine was in such high repute as to be sold, on the Continent, at the rate of fifty livres per pound; and its virtues were extolled in numerous publications that were written on the subject. It is, however, now considered of little importance; and sassafras is seldom employed but in conjunction with other medicines, which, in their nature, are more powerful. Infusions of sassafras are sold in the streets of London, under the name of saloop.

We are informed that, in many parts of America, where the sassafras trees not only grow in great numbers in the woods, but are planted along the fences of enclosures, it is not unusual to make bed-posts of the wood, for the purpose of expelling bugs. Its powerful scent drives away these disagreeable insects; and some persons put chips of sassafras into their wardrobes and chests, to prevent the attack of moths. This wood serves for the posts of enclosures, to which, by its lasting nature in the ground, it is peculiarly adapted.

The bark of the sassafras tree is used by the American women for dyeing worsted, which it does of a permanent and beautiful orange colour.

133. The CASHEW NUT is a small kidney-formed nut, which grows at the extremity of a somewhat pear-shaped Indian fruit.

The tree which produces it (Anacardium occidentale, Fig. 42) somewhat resembles a walnut tree in shape, as well as in the smell of its leaves, which are leathery, somewhat oval and shining. The flowers are red, and sweet-scented.

The size of this fruit is nearly that of a large pear, and the colour of its pulp is sometimes yellow and sometimes red. The singularity of its form, with a nut or stone at the extremity, instead of the centre, generally excites the surprise of persons when they first see it. In a ripe state the fruit is sometimes roasted, cut in slices, and used as an agreeable acid in punch. Its juice, when fermented, is made into wine; and, on distillation, yields a spirit which some persons prefer even to rum.

The nuts are each enclosed in two shells, connected together by a cellular substance, which contains a thick, inflammable, and very caustic oil. The kernels of these nuts have a peculiarly sweet and pleasant flavour, and are eaten either raw or roasted, and sometimes even pickled. It is said that the negroes of Brazil, who eat of these nuts as part of their sustenance, find them peculiarly wholesome, and that they are relieved, by the use of them, from various disorders of the stomach. They are also used in medicine, as almonds; and, when ground with the chocolate nut, they greatly improve its flavour. Cashew nuts may be kept, without any great alteration of their quality, for many years. If the shells be broken, and the nuts be laid for a little while on the fire, they open of themselves; and the kernels being taken out, the thin brown skin which covers them must be removed previously to their being eaten. It is necessary to be cautious, respecting the oil, that it do not come in contact with the mouth or lips; as, in such case, it would inflame and excoriate them.

The oil of the cashew nut is sometimes applied, by the inhabitants of the West Indies (though much caution is requisite in the use of it) as a means of corroding cancerous ulcers, corns, and ring-worms; and some of the West Indian ladies, when they imagine themselves too much tanned by the scorching rays of the sun, cut off the outer shell of the nut, and rub the oil upon their faces as a cosmetic. The immediate consequences of this extraordinary operation are swelling and blackness of the parts; and, in five or six days, the whole skin peels off, leaving the face so sore and tender, that it is impossible for the person using it to appear abroad in less than a fortnight; by which time the new skin is sufficiently hardened, and is as fair as that of a newly-born infant. There are, however, few British females who would consent to be thus flayed alive for the sake of rendering themselves fair. This oil tinges linen a permanent rusty iron colour.

From the Cashew nut tree a milky juice is obtained, by tapping or incision, which stains, of a deep black colour, whatever it touches. The fine black varnish so much used in China and Japan is the resinous juice of a tree called fsi-chu, which is conjectured to be the cashew nut tree.

TRIGYNIA.

134. The TRUE or OFFICINAL RHUBARB (Rheum palmatum) is a medicinal root which grows wild in various parts of Asia.

The leaves which issue from this root are large, and deeply cut into lobes; and the whole plant has a general resemblance to what in our country are called docks. The stem is erect and six or seven feet high. The leaves stand on footstalks, that are somewhat grooved above, and rounded at the edge. Those which proceed from the stalk supply at the joints a kind of membraneous sheaths. The flowers terminate the branches in clusters.

The importance and the properties of this root in medicine are universally known. Rhubarb is usually imported from Turkey, but it is occasionally also brought from Russia, China, and the East Indies. Dr. Woodville states that the Turkey rhubarb is brought over in oblong pieces, flattish on one side, and rounded on the other; and that it is compact, hard, heavy, and internally of a dull colour, variegated with yellow and white. The Chinese rhubarb is in roundish pieces, each with a large hole through the centre. It is softer than the former, and exhibits, when broken, many streaks of bright red colour.

In some of the mountains of Tartary, rhubarb plants are found in great abundance. The roots, when first dug out of the ground, are thick, fleshy, externally of yellowish brown colour, and internally of bright yellow streaked with red veins. When they have attained sufficient size, they are dug up and cleansed; and the small fibres and the rind being cut off, they are divided into pieces of proper size. Each piece is then perforated in the middle, and they are strung on cords in such manner as not to touch each other, and are suspended to dry, either upon adjacent trees, or in the tents.

The sum expended for the importation of this drug is said to exceed 200,000l. per annum, a great proportion of which, it is presumed, might be saved to the country by cultivation of the plants in Great Britain. This was first attempted, about sixty years ago, by Dr. Hope, in the botanic garden at Edinburgh, and with such success as to prove that the climate even of Scotland would be no obstacle to its increase. In 1791, Sir William Fordyce received from the Society for Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce, a gold medal, for having raised more than 300 plants of the true rhubarb from seed. And, in 1783, Mr. Davis, of Minehead, in Somersetshire, brought to perfection as many plants as yielded three hundred pounds' weight of dried rhubarb. Since this period, rhubarb has been grown, in different parts of England, to great extent; and has so far flourished, that some of the roots have weighed seventy pounds and upwards. The principal difficulty has attended the curing of it; but this, after numerous experiments, has at length been performed in such manner, that the English drug has been found equal, or nearly equal, to that which is imported from Turkey and China.

The bark of rhubarb has been used for tinctures, and found, in every respect, as efficacious as the best part of the roots: and the seeds possess nearly the same qualities. The leaves impart an agreeable acidity, somewhat similar to that of sorrel; and a marmalade, which may, with advantage, be adopted for children, is made from the fresh stalks, by stripping off the bark, and boiling the pulp with an equal quantity of sugar.

135. The COMMON RHUBARB (Rheum rhaponticum), is a plant which is cultivated in kitchen gardens, and has large, blunt and smooth leaves, and the leaf-stalks furrowed on the upper side, and rounded at the edge.

This species of rhubarb grows wild on the mountains of Rhodope, in Thrace, whence it was first propagated in other parts of Europe, about the year 1630. It is chiefly in request for the footstalks of the leaves, which are used, (in the early part of the year, when there is little fruit) for pies and tarts. The root has some of the qualities of the true rhubarb, and has occasionally been imposed upon purchasers for that drug.

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