Description—Chinese Cassia lignea, otherwise called Chinese Cinnamon, which of all the varieties is that most esteemed, and approaching most nearly to Ceylon cinnamon, arrives in small bundles about a foot in length and a pound in weight, the pieces of bark being held together with bands of bamboo.
The bark has a general resemblance to cinnamon, but is in simple quills, not inserted one within the other. The quills moreover are less straight, even and regular, and are of a darker brown; and though some of the bark is extremely thin, other pieces are much stouter than fine cinnamon,—in fact, it is much less uniform. The outer coat has been removed with less care than that of Ceylon cinnamon, and pieces can easily be found with the corky layer untouched by the knife.
Cassia bark breaks with a short fracture. The thicker bark cut transversely shows a faint white line in the centre running parallel with the surface. Good cassia in taste resembles cinnamon, than which it is not less sweet and aromatic, though it is often described as less fine and delicate in flavour.
An unusual kind of cassia lignea is imported since 1870 from China and offered in the London market as China Cinnamon,[1966] though it is not the bark that bears this name in continental trade. The new drug is in unscraped quills, which are mostly of about the thickness of ordinary Chinese cassia lignea; it has a very saccharine taste and pungent cinnamon flavour.
The less esteemed kinds of cassia bark, which of late years have been poured into the market in vast quantity, are known in commerce as Cassia lignea, Cassia vera or Wild Cassia, and are further distinguished by the names of the localities whence shipped, as Calcutta, Java, Timor, etc.
The barks thus met with vary exceedingly in colour, thickness and aroma, so that it is vain to attempt any general classification. Some have a pale cinnamon hue, but most are of a deep rich brown. They present all variations in thickness, from that of cardboard to more than a quarter of an inch thick. The flavour is more or less that of cinnamon, often with some unpleasant addition suggestive of insects of the genus Cimex. Many, besides being aromatic, are highly mucilaginous, the mucilage being freely imparted to cold water. Finally, we have met with some thick cassia bark of good appearance that was distinguished by astringency and the almost entire absence of aroma.
Microscopic Structure—A transverse section of such pieces of Chinese Cassia lignea as still bear the suberous envelope, exhibits the following characters. The external surface is made up of several rows of the usual cork-cells, loaded with brown colouring matter. In pieces from which the cork-cells have been entirely scraped, the surface is formed of the mesophlœum, yet by far the largest part of the bark belongs to the liber or endophlœum. Isolated liber-fibres and thick-walled cells (stone-cells) are scattered even through the outer layers of a transverse section. In the middle zone they are numerous, but do not form a coherent sclerenchymatous ring as in cinnamon (p. 526). The innermost part of the liber shares the structural character of cinnamon with differences due to age, as for instance the greater development of the medullary rays. Oil-cells and gum-ducts are likewise distributed in the parenchyme of the former.
The “China Cinnamon” of 1870 (p. 530) comes still nearer to Ceylon cinnamon, except that it is coated. A transverse section of a quill, not thicker than one millimetre, exhibits the three layers described as characterizing that bark. The sclerenchymatous ring is covered by a parenchyme rich in oil-ducts, so that it is obvious that the flavour of this drug could not be improved by scraping. The corky layer is composed of the usual tabular cells. The liber of this drug in fact agrees with that of Ceylon cinnamon.
In Cassia Barks of considerable thickness, the same arrangement of tissues is met with, but their strong development causes a certain dissimilarity. Thus the thick-walled cells are more and more separated one from another, so as to form only small groups. The same applies also to the liber-fibres, which in thick barks are surrounded by a parenchyme, loaded with considerable crystals of oxalate of calcium. The gum-ducts are not larger, but are more numerous in these barks, which swell considerably in cold water.
Chemical Composition—Cassia bark owes its aromatic properties to an essential oil, which, in a chemical point of view, agrees with that of Ceylon cinnamon. The flavour of cassia oil is somewhat less agreeable, and as it exists in the less valuable sorts of cassia, decidedly different in aroma from that of cinnamon. We find the sp. gr. of a Chinese cassia oil to be 1·066, and its rotatory power in a column 50 mm. long, only 0°·1 to the right, differing consequently in this respect from that of cinnamon oil (p. 526).
Oil of cassia sometimes deposits a stearoptene, which when purified is a colourless, inodorous substance, crystallizing in shining brittle prisms.[1967] We have never met with it.
If thin sections of cassia bark are moistened with a dilate solution of perchloride of iron, the contents of the parenchymatous part of the whole tissue assume a dingy brown colour; in the outer layers the starch granules even are coloured. Tannic matter is consequently one of the chief constituents of the bark; the very cell-walls are also imbued with it. A decoction of the bark is turned blackish-green by a persalt of iron.
If cassia bark (or Ceylon cinnamon) is exhausted by cold water, the clear liquid becomes turbid on addition of iodine; the same occurs if a concentrated solution of iodide of potassium is added. An abundant precipitate is produced by addition of iodine dissolved in the potassium salt. The colour of iodine then disappears. There is consequently a substance present which unites with iodine; and in fact, if to a decoction of cassia or cinnamon the said solution of iodine is added, it strikes a bright blue coloration, due to starch. But the colour quickly disappears, and becomes permanent only after much of the test has been added. We have not ascertained the nature of the substance that thus modifies the action of iodine: it can hardly be tannic matter, as we have found the reaction to be the same when we used bark that had been previously repeatedly treated with spirit of wine and then several times with boiling ether.
The mucilage contained in the gum-cells of the thinner quills of cassia is easily dissolved by cold water, and may be precipitated together with tannin by neutral acetate of lead, but not by alcohol. In the thicker barks it appears less soluble, merely swelling into a slimy jelly.
Commerce—Cassia lignea is exported from Canton in enormous and increasing quantities. The shipments which in 1864 amounted to 13,800 peculs, reached 40,600 in 1869,[1968] 61,220 in 1871, and 76,464 peculs (10,195,200 lb.) value £267,703, in 1872.[1969] In 1874 the exports were 54,268 peculs (1 pecul = 133⅓ lb.) and 58,313 peculs in 1878; from the other ports of China cassia is not shipped to any extent. England usually receives no more than about 1,000,000 lb. of cassia, of which only 40,000 lb. appear to be consumed in the country. Hamburg imports about 2,000,000 lb. annually immediately from China. Yet in 1878 the quantity imported into London was 26,744 peculs (3,500,000 lb.), that received at Hamburg 13,548 peculs.
Cassia lignea is exported in chests containing 2 peculs each.
Oil of cassia was shipped from the south of China to the United Kingdom, to the extent in 1869 of 47,517 lb.; in 1870, of 28,389 lb.[1970] Hamburg is also a very important place for this oil; in the official statistics of that port for 1875 the imports from China are stated to have amounted to 30,000 lb., besides 10,000 lb. imported from Great Britain; in 1876 Hamburg imported 5,900 lb. from China and 17,000 lb. from England.
Uses—The same as those of cinnamon.
Allied Products.
Cassia Twigs—The branches of the cassia trees, alluded to at page 529, would appear to be collected from the same trees which yield the cassia lignea. Garnier (l.c. at p. 528) says that the youngest branches are made into fagots, adding that they have the odour of bugs.
Cassia twigs are not as yet exported to Europe, but they constitute a very important article of the trade of the interior of China. In 1872 no less than 456,533 lb. of this Wood of Cassia or Cassia Twigs were shipped from Canton, for the most part to other Chinese ports.—The imports of Hankow, in 1874, of these twigs were 1925 peculs (259,667 lb.) valued at 5677 taels (1 tael about equal to 5s. 11d.).[1971]
In the Paris Exhibition of 1878 we had the opportunity of examining some bundles of cassia twigs from western Kwangtung. The branches were as much as 2 feet in length and of the thickness of a finger. We found their bark to possess the usual flavour of cassia lignea.
Cassia Buds, Flores Cassiæ—These are the immature fruits of the tree yielding Chinese cassia lignea, and have been used in Europe since the middle ages. In the journal of expenses (a.d. 1359-60) of John, king of France, when a prisoner at Somerton Castle in England, there are several entries for the spice under the name of Flor de Canelle; it was very expensive, costing from 8s. to 13s. per lb., or more than double the price of mace or cloves. On one occasion two pounds of it had to be obtained for the king’s use from Bruges.[1972] From the Form of Cury[1973] written in 1390, it appears that cassia buds (“Flō de queynel”) were used in preparing the spiced wine called Hippocras.
Cassia buds are shipped from Canton, but the exports have much declined. Rondot, writing in 1848,[1974] estimated them as averaging 400 peculs (53,333 lb.) a year. In 1866 there were shipped from Canton only 233 peculs (31,066 lb.); in 1867, 165 peculs (22,000 lb.)[1975] The quantity of cassia buds imported into the United Kingdom in 1870 was 29,321 lb.;[1976] the spice is sold chiefly by grocers. The great market for this drug is Hamburg, where in 1876, according to the official statistics, 1324 cwt. of cassia buds were imported.
In Southern India, the more mature fruits of one of the varieties of Cinnamomum iners Reinw. are collected for use, but are very inferior to the Chinese cassia buds.
Folia Malabathri or Folia Indi—is the name given to the dried, aromatic leaves of certain Indian species of Cinnamomum, formerly employed[1977] in European medicine, but now obsolete. Under the name Taj-pat, the leaves are still used in India; they are collected in Mysore from wild trees.
Ishpingo—This is the designation in Quito of the calyx of a tree of the laurel tribe, used in Ecuador and Peru in the place of cinnamon. Though but little known in Europe, it has a remarkable history.
The existence of a spice-yielding region in South America, having come to the ears of the Spanish conquerors, was regarded as a matter of interest. It would appear that cinnamon was enumerated in the earliest accounts among the precious products of the New World.[1978] Such high importance was attached to it that in Ecuador an expedition was fitted out. The direction of the enterprise was confided to Gonzalo Pizarro, who with 340 soldiers, and more than 4000 Indians, laden with supplies, quitted the city of Quito on Christmas Day, 1539. The expedition, which lasted two years, resulted in the most lamentable failure, only 130 Spaniards surviving the hardships of the journey. In the account of it given by Garcilasso de la Vega, the cinnamon tree is described as having large leaves like those of a laurel, with fruits resembling acorns growing in clusters.[1979] Fernandez de Oviedo[1980] has also given some particulars regarding the spice, together with a figure fairly representing its remarkable form; and the subject has been noticed by several other Spanish writers, including Monardes.[1981]
Notwithstanding the celebrity thus conferred on the spice, and the fact that the latter gives its name to a large tract of country,[1982] and is still the object of a considerable traffic, the tree itself is all but unknown to science. Meissner places it doubtfully under the genus Nectandra, with the specific name cinnamomoides, but confesses that its flowers and fruits are alike unknown.[1983]
The spice, for an ample specimen of which we have to thank Dr. Destruge, of Guayaquil, consists of the enlarged and matured woody calyx, 1½ to 2 inches in diameter, having the shape of a shallow funnel, the open part of which is a smooth cup (like the cup of an acorn), surrounded by a broad, irregular margin, usually recurved. The outer surface is rough and veiny, and the whole calyx is dark brown, and has a strong, sweet, aromatic taste, like cinnamon, for which in Ecuador it is the common substitute.
Dr. Destruge has also furnished us with a specimen of the bark, which is in very small uncoated quills, exactly simulating true cinnamon. We are not aware whether the bark is thus prepared in quantity.
Cortex Nectandræ; Greenheart Bark, Bibiru or Bebeeru Bark.
Botanical Origin—Nectandra Rodiæi Schomburgk—The Bibiru or Greenheart is a large forest tree,[1984] growing on rocky soils in British Guiana, twenty to fifty miles inland. It is found in abundance on the hill sides which skirt the rivers Essequibo, Cuyuni, Demerara, Pomeroon and Berbice. The tree attains a height of 80 to 90 feet, with an undivided erect trunk, furnishing an excellent timber which is ranked in England as one of the eight first-class woods for shipbuilding, and is to be had in beams of from 60 to 70 feet long.
History—In 1769 Bancroft, in his History of Guiana, called attention to the excellent timber afforded by the Greenheart or Sipeira. About the year 1835 it became known that Hugh Rodie, a navy surgeon who had settled in Demerara some twenty years previously, had discovered an alkaloid of considerable efficacy as a febrifuge, in the bark of this tree.[1985] In 1843 this alkaloid, to which Rodie had given the name Bebeerine, was examined by Dr. Douglas Maclagan; and the following year the tree was described by Schomburgk under the name of Nectandra Rodiæi.[1986]
Description—Greenheart bark occurs in long heavy flat pieces, not unfrequently 4 inches broad and ³/₁₀ of an inch thick, externally of a light greyish brown, with the inner surface of a more uniform cinnamon hue and with strong longitudinal striæ. It is hard and brittle; the fracture coarse-grained, slightly foliaceous, and only fibrous in the inner layer. The grey suberous coat is always thin, often forming small warts, and leaving when removed longitudinal depressions analogous to the digital furrows of Flat Calisaya Bark (p. 353), but mostly longer. Greenheart bark has a strong bitter taste, but is not aromatic. Its watery infusion is of a very pale cinnamon brown.
Microscopic Structure—The general features of this bark are very uniform, almost the whole tissue having been changed into thick-walled cells. Even the cells of the corky layer show secondary deposits; the primary envelope has entirely disappeared, and no transition from the suberous coat to liber is obvious.
The prevalent forms of the tissue are the stone-cells and very short liber-fibres, intersected by small medullary rays and crossed transversely by parenchyme or small prosenchyme cells with walls a little less thickened, so as to appear in a transverse section as irregular squares or groups. The only cells of a peculiar character are the sharp-pointed fibres of the inner liber, which are curiously saw-shaped, being provided with numerous protuberances and sinuosities.
The very small lumen of the thick-walled cells contains a dark brown mass which is coloured greenish-black by sulphate of iron; the same coloration takes place throughout the less dense tissue surrounding the the groups of stone-cells, and may in each case be due to tannic matter.
Chemical Composition—Greenheart bark contains an alkaloid which has long been regarded as peculiar, under the name of Bibirine or Bebirine. It was however shown by Walz in 1860 to be apparently identical with Buxine, a substance discovered as early as 1830 in the bark and leaves of the Common Box, Buxus sempervirens L. In 1869 the observation of Walz was to some extent confirmed by one of us,[1987] who further demonstrated that Pelosine, an alkaloid occurring in the stems and roots of Cissampelos Pareira L. and Chondodendron tomentosum Ruiz et Pavon (p. 28), is undistinguishable from the alkaloids of greenheart and box.
The alkaloid of bibiru bark, which may be conveniently prepared from the crude sulphate used in medicine under the name of Sulphate of Bibirine, is a colourless amorphous substance, the composition of which is indicated by the formula C₁₈H₂₁NO₃. It is soluble in 5 parts of absolute alcohol, in 13 of ether, and in 1400 (1800, Walz) of boiling water, the solution in each case having a decidedly alkaline reaction on litmus. It dissolves readily in bisulphide of carbon, as well as in dilute acids. The salts hitherto known are uncrystallizable. The solution of a neutral acetate affords an abundant white precipitate on the addition of an alkaline phosphate, nitrate or iodide, of iodohydrargyrate or platino-cyanide of potassium, perchloride of mercury, or of nitric or iodic acid.
Maclagan, one of the earliest investigators of greenheart, has obtained in co-operation with Gamgee[1988] certain alkaloids from the wood of the tree, to one of which these chemists have assigned the formula C₂₀H₂₃NO₄ and the name Nectandria. Two other alkaloids, the characters of which have not yet been fully investigated, are stated to have been obtained from the same source.
Bibiric Acid, which Maclagan obtained from the seeds, is described as a colourless, crystalline, deliquescent substance, fusing at 150° C. and volatile at 200° C., then forming needle-shaped groups.
Commerce—The supplies of greenheart bark are extremely uncertain, and the drug is scarcely to be found in the market. It has been imported in barrels containing 80 to 84 lb. each, or in bags holding ½ to ¾ cwt.
Uses—The bark has been recommended as a bitter tonic and febrifuge, but is hardly ever employed except in the form of what is called Sulphate of Bibirine, which, as we have said, is crude Sulphate of Buxine.[1989] It is a dark amorphous substance which, having while in a syrupy state been spread out on glazed plates, is obtained in thin translucent laminæ. We find it to yield scarcely one-third of its weight of the pure alkaloid.
Sassafras Root; F. Bois de Sassafras, Lignum Sassafras; G. Sassafrasholz.
Botanical Origin—Sassafras officinalis Nees (Laurus Sassafras L.), a tree growing in North America, from Canada, southward to Florida and Missouri. In the north it is only a shrub, or a small tree 20 to 30 feet high, but in the Middle and Southern United States, and especially in Virginia and Carolina, it attains a height of 40 to 100 feet. The leaves are of different forms, some being ovate and entire, and others two- or three-lobed, the former, it is said, appearing earlier than the latter.
History—Monardes relates that the French during their expedition to Florida (1562-1564) cured their sick with the wood and root of a tree called Sassafras, the use of which they had learnt from the Indians.[1990] Laudonnière, who was a member of that expedition, and diligently set forth the wonders of Florida, observes that, among forest trees, the most remarkable for its timber and especially for its fragrant bark, is that called by the savages Pavame and by the French Sassafras.[1991]
The drug was known in Germany, at least since 1582, under the above names or also by that of Lignum Floridum or Fennel-wood, Xylomarathrum.[1992]
The sassafras tree had been introduced into England in the time of Gerarde (circa 1597), who speaks of a specimen growing at Bow. At that period the wood and bark of the root were used chiefly in the treatment of ague.
In 1610, a paper of instructions from the Government of England to that of the new colony of Virginia, mentions among commodities to be sent home, “Small sassafras Rootes” which are “to be drawen in the winter and dryed and none to be medled with in the somer;—and yet is worthe £50 and better per tonne.”[1993] The shipments were afterwards much overdone, for in 1622 complaint is made that other things than tobacco and sassafras[1994] were neglected to be shipped.
Angelus Sala, an Italian chemist living in Germany about the year 1610-1630, in distilling sassafras noticed that the oil was heavier than water;[1995] it was quoted in 1683 in the tariff of the apothecary of the elector of Saxony, at Dresden.[1996] John Maud in 1738 obtained crystals of safrol as long as 4 inches;[1997] in 1844 they were examined by Saint-Evre.
Description—Sassafras is imported in large branching logs, which often include the lower portion of the stem, 6 to 12 inches in diameter.[1998]
The roots proper, which diminish in size down to the thickness of a quill, are covered with a dull, rough, spongy bark. This bark has an inert, soft corky layer, beneath which is a firmer inner bark of brighter hue, rich in essential oil. The wood of the root is light and easily cut, in colour of a dull reddish-brown, and with a fragrant odour and spicy taste similar to that of the bark but less strong. It is usually sold in the shops rasped into shavings.
The bark of the root (Cortex sassafras) is a separate article of commerce, but not much used in England. It consists of channelled, flattish, or curled, irregular fragments seldom exceeding 4 inches long by 3 inches broad and generally much smaller, and from ¹/₁₆ to ¼ of an inch in thickness. The inert outer layer has been carefully removed, leaving a scarred, exfoliating surface. The inner surface is finely striated and exhibits very minute shining crystals. The bark has a short, corky fracture, and in colour is a bright cinnamon brown of various shades. It has a strong and agreeable smell, with an astringent, aromatic, bitterish taste.
Microscopic Structure—The wood of the root exhibits, in transverse section, concentric rings transversed by narrow medullary rays. Each ring contains a number of large vessels in its inner part, and more densely packed cells in its outer. The prevailing part of the wood consists of prosenchyme cells. Globular cells, loaded with yellow essential oil, are distributed among the woody prosenchyme. The latter as well as the medullary rays abounds in starch.
The bark is rich in oil-cells and also contains cells filled with mucilage; it owes its spongy appearance and exfoliation to the formation of secondary cork bands (rhytidoma) within the mesophlœum and even in the liber. The cortical tissue abounds in red colouring matter, and further contains starch and, less abundantly, oxalate of calcium.
Chemical Composition—The wood of the root yields 1 to 2 per cent. of volatile oil,[1999] and the root-bark twice as much. The stem and leaves of the tree contain but a very small quantity. The oil, which as found in commerce is all manufactured in America, has the specific odour of sassafras, and is colourless, yellow, or reddish-brown, according, as the distillers assert, to the character of the root employed. As the colour of the oil does not affect its flavour and market value, no effort is made to keep separate the different varieties of root.
Oil of Sassafras has a sp. gr. of 1·087 to 1·094, increasing somewhat by age (Procter). When cooled, it deposits crystals of Safrol or Sassafras Camphor. This body, which we obtained in the form of hard, four- or six-sided prisms with the odour of sassafras, often attaining more than 4 inches in length and 1 inch in diameter, belongs to the monosymmetric system, as shown by Arzruni.[2000] Safrol, C₁₀H₁₀O₂, liquefies at 8°·5 C. (47° F.), having at 12° C. a sp. gr. of 1·11; it boils at 232° C., and is devoid of rotatory power, nor is it soluble in alkalis. The researches of Grimaux and Ruotte (1869) show the oil to contain nine-tenths of its weight of Safrol which they observed only in the liquid state.
Another constituent of sassafras oil has been termed by Grimaux and Ruotte Safrene; it boils at 155° to 157° C., has a sp. gr. of 0·834 and the formula C₁₀H₁₆. It has the same odour as safrol, but deviates the plane of polarization to the right.
It was further found by the same observers that the crude oil contains an extremely small quantity of a substance of the phenol class, which can be removed by caustic lye and separated by an acid.
We succeeded in obtaining this substance by using that portion of the crude oil from which the safrol had separated. The phenol remains in the mother-liquor after it has again been cooled and has afforded a new crystallization of safrol. The phenol thus obtained assumes a beautiful greenish blue hue on addition of an alcoholic solution of perchloride of iron.
The Sassarubin and Sassafrin of Hare (1837) are impure products of the decomposition of sassafras oil by means of sulphuric acid.
The bark and also to some extent the wood, in both cases of the root, contain tannic acid which produces a blue colour with persalts of iron. By oxidation, we must suppose, it is converted into the red colouring matter deposited in the bark and, in smaller quantity, in the heartwood of old trees. The young wood is nearly white. The said red substance probably agrees with that to which Reinsch in 1845 and 1846 gave the name of Sassafrid, and is doubtless analogous to cinchona-red and ratanhia-red. Reinsch obtained it to the extent of 9·2 per cent.
Production and Commerce—Baltimore is the chief mart for sassafras root, bark and oil, which are brought thither from within a circuit of 300 miles. The roots are extracted from the ground by the help of levers, partly barked and partly sent untouched to the market, or are cut up into chips for distillation on the spot. Of the bark as much as 100,000 lb. were received in Baltimore in 1866. The quantity of oil annually produced previous to the war is estimated at 15,000 to 20,000 lb. There are isolated small distillers in Pennsylvania and West New Jersey, who are allowed by the owners of a “sassafras wilderness” to remove from the ground the roots and stumps without charge. Sassafras root is not medicinal in the United States, the more aromatic root-bark being reasonably preferred.[2001]
Uses—Sassafras is reputed to be sudorific and stimulant, but in British practice it is only given in combination with sarsaparilla and guaiacum. Shavings of the wood are sold to make Sassafras Tea.
In America the essential oil is used to give a pleasant flavour to effervescing drinks, tobacco and toilet soaps.[2002]
Substitutes—The odour of sassafras is common to several plants of the order Lauraceæ. Thus the bark of Mesphilodaphne Sassafras Meissn., a tree of Brazil, resembles in odour true sassafras. We have seen a very thick sassafras bark brought from India, the same we suppose as that which Mason[2003] describes as abundantly produced in Burma.
The bark of Atherosperma moschatum Labillardière, an Australian tree, is occasionally exported from Australia under the name of Sassafras bark. It has the odour of the true drug, but differs from it by its grey colour.
The large separate cotyledons of two lauraceous trees of the Rio Negro, doubtfully referred by Meissner to the genus Nectandra, furnish the so-called Sassafras Nuts or Puchury or Pilchurim Beans of Brazil, occasionally to be met with in old drug warehouses.
On the Orinoko and in Guiana an oleo-resin, called Sassafras Oil or Laurel Oil, is obtained by boring into the stem of Oreodaphne opifera Nees, which sometimes contains a cavity holding a large quantity of this fluid.[2004] A similar oil (Aceite de Sassafras) is afforded on the Rio Negro by Nectandra Cymbarum Nees.[2005]