Cinnamon bark ( Cinnamomum Zeylanicum, U.S.P.; Ceylon Cinnamon) is obtained from cultivated trees of Cinnamomum zeylanicum Breyn. ( N.O. Laurineae) , a native of Ceylon, whence the official drug is obtained. The cinnamon tree is cultivated in other countries, notably Brazil, West Indies, and Java, but the bark obtained therefrom is inferior in fragrance to that obtained from Ceylon cinnamon. The shoots from truncated stocks are cut down when nearly two years old and from 1 to 2 meters long, the bark is stripped off, and, after exposure to the air for about twenty-four hours, freed from epidermis and cortex by scraping. The strips are then packed inside one another in long quills, and dried. The bark occurs in long slender sticks, containing numerous small quills or channelled pieces. The quills are dull pale brown in colour, extremely thin and brittle, and often marked with little scars or holes. The inner surface is darker and marked with faint longitudinal striations. No cork is present and not more than traces of the cortex. The drug has a fragrant odour and warm sweet aromatic taste. Inferior qualities are generally thicker, less carefully scraped, more mucilaginous, and less aromatic. Powdered cinnamon may be identified by the presence of numerous isolated bast fibres with thick walls and of sclerenchymatous cells with horse-shoe thickening. Small, simple starch grains and minute prisms of calcium oxalate also occur, together with the debris of oil cells. It may be distinguished from powdered cassia bark by the more slender bast fibres, smaller starch grains and absence of cork. The drug yields about 4 per cent. of ash. Cinnamomum Saigonicum, U.S.P., is the bark of an undetermined species; the dose of Saigon cinnamon is the same as that of Ceylon cinnamon.

Cinnamon bark oil possesses the delicate aroma of the spice and a sweet and pungent taste. Its major constituent is cinnamaldehyde but other, minor components impart the characteristic odour and flavour. It is employed mainly in the flavouring industry where it is used in meat and fast food seasonings, sauces and pickles, baked goods, confectionery, cola-type drinks, tobacco flavours and in dental and pharmaceutical preparations. Perfumery applications are far fewer than in flavours because the oil has some skin-sensitizing properties, but it has limited use in some perfumes.

The effects of Cinnamon bark oil are stimulating, heating, stomachic, carminative, and tonic. The oil is one of the most powerful stimulants we possess, and it is sometimes used as a cordial in cramps of the stomach, and in syncope; or as a stimulant in paralysis of the tongue, or to deaden the nerve in toothaches. But it is principally employed as an aromatic, to cover the disagreeable taste of other drugs.

Technical Specifications

Optical Rotation at 30° C - 0° to 2°
Refractive index at 30° C - + 1.5550 to 1.5880
Specific Gravity at 30° C - 1.010 to 1.030
Colour and Appearance - Golden yellow liquid
Major Constituents - Cinnamic aldehyde, Eugenol