Appendix to the Books on Plants and Peripatetic Questions

The plant bears a likeness to the Strawberry Tree original: "Arbutus", or to young Hazelnut trees original: "Auellanæ" growing from numerous roots, of which one thicker root is fixed deep within the earth, and next to it are many thinner ones. From a single turf emerge six or seven shoots four cubits A cubit is roughly 18 inches; these shoots are about 6 feet tall. in height, at which time they have attained a thickness suitable for the pipes The "fistulæ" or quills of cinnamon bark. to be separated from the wood. But the small branches which are near the root wither away, as usually happens to those that grow in dense forests. It bears leaves similar in shape to Laurel, with a flat surrounding line, and a certain rib running through the middle, with two others at the side meeting at the top in an acute angle; at the base, however, they form an oval shape. The space between the ribs is marked as if with filaments, like a spider's web.

The stalks are covered with a very thin skin of varying color according to the diversity of nature, age, position, and part. For near the root, the thicker stalks are clothed in a white skin; near the peaks, a black color appears; in the middle, it is variegated. Whence it often happens that in the same turf all the differences of colors are seen, from which the ancients created various species of Cinnamon. In some, that color appears which Galen A famous Greek physician and philosopher in the Roman Empire. compares to milk sprinkled over black with blue. Some are seen with a wine-like color inclining toward ash-gray, as Dioscorides A Greek physician and botanist, author of "De Materia Medica". relates. Beneath this is contained the bark, which is cleaned to make the pipes. Thinner pipes are obtained from Ceylon original: "Zeilana" than from Malabar.

Beneath that bark is the wood, the material of which is light and fibrous; in the middle it contains a reddish pith like that of the Laurel, though not as thick. The taste of the wood is insipid; if, however, it is chewed for a long time, it offers some flavor of Cinnamon original: "Canellæ", but it is scarcely perceived. Between the leaf-stalk and the branches from which they emerge, there comes out a white, round, and thin stalk, which opens at the top into several small branches. On the tips of these sit little flowers, which while they are closed, imitate the clusters of the olive in shape and color. These open into six small leaves forming a sort of cup, with threads rising from the bottom and ending in a broad and round surface. But as soon as the flowers open, they are withered by the sun; their odor is not pleasant, but heavy for the brain, and the taste is astringent...