Description: An evergreen tropical tree up to 12 m high. The trunk has cracked, ash-grey bark; leathery leaves are light green, aromatic, with distinct venation. Flowers are tiny, inconspicuous, arranged in clusters, exuding a pleasant smell. Resembles the cinnamon to which it is closely related.

Origin and Distribution: Indigenous to southern China. Cultivated mainly in China, Thailand and Indonesia. Read the rest of this entry »

Description: An evergreen subtropical citrus tree resembling the sweet orange tree, 4-5 m high. Leaves are broadly winged, oblong, glossy, with petioles and a strong smell when crushed. Flowers are pure white. Fruit is an orange, broadly oval berry with orange, somewhat bitter pulp.

Origin and Distribution: Native to eastern India and the adjacent parts of China and Burma. Because of the high resistance of its roots to rotting it is widely used as a rootstock for other citruses. Cultivated in plantations mainly around Seville in Spain; this is why it is often called the Seville orange (Bigarade orange, also known as the bitter, or sour, orange). Read the rest of this entry »

Description: A shrub or small tree adapted to extremely dry conditions. Branches thorny, covered with small stiff leaves. Flowers may be either hermaphrodite or unisexual. Fruit is a semipulpy drupe.

Distribution: Grows on the coast of eastern Africa, in Arabia, northern India and the Yemen.

Preparation: The plant exudes the golden-yellow resin called myrrh, which is obtained by making cuts into the stem and branches of wild or, rarely, cultivated plants; myrrh flows from the canals made in the bark and rapidly solidifies on contact with air to form hard, tear-shaped grains. Read the rest of this entry »

Description: A tropical herbaceous plant growing from underground rhizomes and reaching 60-100 cm in height. The leaves are ellipsoid- oblong, the flowers yellow on flower-bearing stems.

Origin and Distribution: Imported from India to Europe by the Arabs in ancient times. Today it is cultivated mainly in China and India, and to a lesser extent in Java, Haiti, Japan, the Madagascar and the Philippines. Read the rest of this entry »