Vasilis Teodoridis:
Lauraceae | Cinnamomum
31. Cinnamomum burmannii (Nees & T. Nees) Blume; Bijdr. 569. 1826.
?? yin xiang
Laurus burmannii Nees & T. Nees; Cinnam. Disp. [Amoen. Bot. Bonn. Fasc. 1:] 57. 1823; Cinnamomum chinense Blume; C. dulce (Roxburgh) Sweet; C. hainanense Nakai; C. kiamis Nees; C. miaoshanense S. K. Lee & F. N. Wei; L. dulcis Roxburgh.
Trees; up to 14 m tall; to 30 cm d.b.h. Bark smooth; gray-brown to dark brown outside; red inside; cassia-scented. Branchlets green or brown-green; slender; striate; glabrous. Leaves alternate or subopposite; rarely opposite; petiole 0.5-1.2 cm; plano-convex; subglabrous; leaf blade glaucous green and opaque abaxially; green and shiny adaxially; ovate or oblong to lanceolate; 5.5-10.5 x 2-5 cm; leathery; glabrous on both surfaces; triplinerved; midrib and basal lateral veins very elevated abaxially; conspicuous adaxially; basal lateral veins arising 3-8 mm above leaf base; evanescent toward leaf apex; transverse veins and veinlets somewhat elevated on both surfaces; ± reticulate; base broadly cuneate; apex shortly acuminate. Panicle axillary or subterminal; shorter than leaf; (2-)3-6 cm; few flowered; lax; densely gray puberulent; branched; apex of branch bearing a 3-flowered cyme. Pedicels slender; 4-6 mm; gray puberulent. Flowers green-white; ca. 5 mm. Perianth densely gray puberulent outside and inside; perianth tube short; obconical; ca. 2 mm; perianth lobes oblong-ovate; acute. Fertile stamens 9; ca. 2.5 mm (of 1st and 2nd whorls) or ca. 2.7 mm (of 3rd whorl); filaments puberulent; those of 3rd whorl each with 2 subsessile globose glands; others glandless; anthers oblong; 4-celled; cells introrse (of 1st and 2nd whorls) or extrorse (of 3rd whorl). Staminodes 3; narrowly triangular; ca. 1 mm; stalked; stalk ca. 0.7 mm; puberulent. Ovary subglobose; ca. 1.5 mm; somewhat puberulent; style ca. 2 mm; angled; somewhat puberulent; stigma discoid. Fruit ovoid; ca. 8 x 5 mm; perianth cup in fruit ca. 4 mm; apex ca. 3 mm wide; dentate; teeth truncate. Fl. Mar-Apr; fr. Oct-Nov.
Sparse or dense forests and thickets; roadsides along streams; 100-1400 m (to 2100 m in Yunnan). Fujian; Guangdong; Guangxi; Hainan; Yunnan [India; Indonesia; Myanmar; Philippines; Vietnam].
The dried bark is a source of an important spice; which is used as a substitute for cassia bark. The wood is heavy; soft; finely grained; and used for house construction. The leafy branchlets contain volatile oil. Three types of the oil are found in Yunnan: linalol type (linalol ca. 57%); citral type (citral ca. 77%); and cineole type (cineole ca. 47%).