Cinnamonum Cassia, or aromaticum, the Laurus cassia of Linnaeus, seems to be the chief source of the “cassia lignea” of commerce.  It differs from the true cinnamon tree in many particulars.  Its leaves are oblong-lanceolate; they have three ribs, which coalesce into one at the base; its young twigs are downy, and its leaves have the taste of cinnamon.

Malabar cassia appears to be the produce of another species of Cinnamonum, probably C. eucalyptoides, or Malabatrum.

Dr. Wight, of the Madras Medical Service, in a report to the East India Company, expresses his belief that the cassia producing plants extend to nearly every species of the genus.  “A set of specimens (he observes) submitted for my examination, of the trees furnishing cassia on the Malabar coast, presented no fewer than four distinct species; including among them the genuine cinnamon plant, the bark of the older trees of which, it would appear, are exported from the coast as cassia.  Three or four more species are natives of Ceylon, exclusive of the cinnamon proper, all of which greatly resemble the cinnamon plant, and in the woods might easily be mistaken for it and peeled, though the produce would be inferior.  Thus we have from Western India and Ceylon alone, probably not less than six plants producing cassia; add to these nearly twice as many more species of Cinnamonum, the produce of the more eastern states of Asia, and the Islands of the Eastern Archipelago, all remarkable for their striking family likeness; all, I believe, endowed with aromatic properties, and probably the greater part, if not the whole, contributing something towards the general result, and we at once see the impossibility of awarding to any one individual species the credit of being the source whence the Cassia lignea of commerce is derived; and equally the impropriety of applying to any one of them the comprehensive specific appellation of cassia, since all sorts of cinnamon-like plants, yielding bark of a quality unfit to bear the designation of cinnamon in the market, are passed off as cassia.”

The cassia tree, according to Mr. Crawfurd, is found in the more northern portion of the Indian isles, as in the Philippines, Majindanao, Sumatra, Borneo, and parts of Celebes.  It is also grown on the western coast of Africa.  The principal seat of its culture is, however, the Malabar coast, and the provinces of Quantong and Kingse, in China.

The famous cassia of China is incomparably superior in perfume and flavor to any spice of its class.  Its native place is unknown, though supposed to be the interior provinces of China.  The market price is said to be L5 per lb.

The Malabar sort brought from Bombay is thicker, darker colored, and coarser than that from China, and is more subject to foul packing.  A small quantity of cassia is brought from Mauritius and Brazil, and a large amount from the Philippine Islands.