Cinnamon

Cinnamon (Cinnamomum verum), also known as true cinnamon or Ceylon cinnamon, is a small evergreen tree in the family Lauraceae, native to Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon), and also found in southern India, Myanmar, and Bangladesh. It is cultivated pantropically for its inner bark, which is dried and rolled into the familiar quills used as one of the world's most popular spices. The tree grows 10–15 meters tall in the wild but is typically coppiced to produce multiple stems in cultivation. The bark of young branches is peeled, dried, and curled to form cinnamon sticks. True cinnamon is prized for its delicate, complex flavor compared to the cheaper cassia (Cinnamomum cassia), with which it is often confused in international trade. The species has been used for over three thousand years in culinary, medicinal, and ritual contexts across Asia, the Middle East, and Europe. It is not formally assessed by the IUCN. In Sri Lanka, cinnamon cultivation is a significant agricultural industry concentrated in the wet zone southwest of the island. The essential oil contains eugenol, cinnamaldehyde, and other compounds with documented antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory properties that have attracted pharmaceutical research interest. Wild populations persist in Sri Lankan lowland forest remnants, though the species is primarily known today as a crop plant.