Plants in the Bible
In the Bible many plants - trees, palms, shrubs, crops herbs etc are mentioned. One of them is the Cinnamon or Cinnamomum zeylanicum. .( Passages in the Bible (KJV): Exodus 30:23; Proverbs 7:17; Song of Solomon 4:14; Revelation 18:13)
Commercially, Cinnamon is the most important of all the cinnamon species. From this tree comes the true cinnamon bark that is so well known in cooking. This bark or quill has been in used as a spice for flavouring food for centuries. The Hebrews used the bark or oil from the bark to flavour food and wine. A native of Sri Lanka, it is now cultivated in south India, southern China, Japan, Madagascar, West Indies, Brazil and Indonesia. The cinnamon is an evergreen aromatic tree that grows to 12 m. Its leaves are glossy green, leathery, entire with three veins parallel to the margins; flowers are small, yellowish white borne in panicles; the small oval-shaped fruits look like acorns and are bluish when ripe.
Nowadays the plant is cultivated in the form of a shrub to facilitate harvesting of the branches. The bark is stripped from the branches and young shoots when the plant is still quite small. It is then left to dry for 24 hours. The outer layer is then removed and the inner layer rolls inwards while drying, forming a quill. The branches are usually cut during the rainy season when the bark peels off easily from the wood.
Other parts of the tree are also useful. For instance, from the leaves , the bark, and the roots an oil is extracted for medicinal purposes. The oil obtained from the seed is used for making perfume. The bark is also used for flavoring pipe tobacco and in various liquors. The fruits, bark and leaves are used in potpourri.
|
Flowering tree
Flowering tree from Kerala in India.
|
