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Botanical Name :
Cinnamomum
zeylanicum
English
Name:
Cinnamon,
Ceylon Cinnamon
Sanskrit Name:
Tvakl,
Dalachini
Plant Parts
Used: Bark
Description of
Cinnamomum zeylanicum:
It is a moderate sized tree. The bark is smooth, light pinkish brown
and thin, with a strong, pleasant smell and spicy, burning taste. The
leaves are opposite or sub-opposite, glabrous, thinly to stiffly
coriaceous and oval to lanceolate; the flowers are yellowish green, in
axillary panicles; the fruits are ellipsoid to oblong-ovoid and dark
purple. The bark constitutes the Cinnamon of commerce.
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Principal Constituents:
It contains a significant amount of a mucilaginous substance, which
consists mainly of water extractable L-arabino-D-xylan and an
alkali-extractable D-glucan. The bark also contains the diterpenes,
cinnzeylanin and cinnzeylanol besides tannins.
Pharmacology:
The bark is reported to have shown mutagenic activity in rec -assay in
Bacillus subtilis (Ehrenb.) Cohn strains H17 and M45. Thus it may have
associated carcinogenic action. The dried bark in the crude form, its
water-heated and water-macerated residues, and petroleum ether and
chloroform extracts, showed mutagenic activity, whereas water-heated and
water-macerated filtrates did not show the activity. In another study,
the petroleum ether and chloroform extracts showed a cytotoxic effect on
the stable monolayer cell lines from a human mouth carcinoma, and also
on the stable suspension cell lines from a mouse lymphoid leukemia.
Medicinal Uses:
Externally the bark is used in neuralgia, rheumatism and
toothache. It is aromatic, astringent, stimulant, expectorant and
carminative. The oil from the bark shows potent antibacterial and
anti-fungal activity.
Herbal Extract packing:
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