Cinnamomum japonicum (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Cinnamomum japonicum Sieb. ex Nees

Family: Lauraceae

Cinnamomum pedunculatum Nees (excluding Laurus pedunculata Thunb.).

• Japanese cinnamon, bush cassia-bark (En).

Japan, Korea, China, Ryukyu Islands.

The fruits yield a solid fat, resembling and used like cocoa butter.

Evergreen tree, sometimes shrubby, with stout, stiff branches. Leaves alternate or subopposite, petiole 1-3 cm long, blade elliptical-ovate, 5-13 cm × 2-5 cm, coriaceous, 3-veined from the base, glossy-green above. Inflorescence an axillary corymb or umbel, peduncle up to 4 cm long or simply or twice umbellate with up to 12 umbels, pedicel 5-12 mm long; flowers bisexual, tepals 6, all broadly ovate and about 3 mm long. Infructescence about 7 cm long, fruit ellipsoid, about 12 mm long, black, seated on a shallow cupule. C. japonicum occurs in scrub formations, secondary woods and in forest understorey. The fruits contain about 70% fat (seed kernel about 40%). The fat has a melting range of 32-33°C; the saponification value is about 274, the iodine value about 6. The fatty acids have a high proportion of lauric acid. Its possibilities for South-East Asia deserve investigation.

9, 19, 34, 134.