Cinnamomum burmannii (Nees & T. Nees) Blume, Lauraceae

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Present on Pacific Islands?  yes

Primarily a threat at high elevations?  no

Risk assessment results:  High risk, score: 12 (Go to the risk assessment)

Common name(s): [more details]

Chinese: yin xiang

English: Batavia cinnamon, Batavia-cassia, Indonesian cassia, Java-cassia, Korintje-cassia, Padang cassia, Padang cinnamon

French: cannelier d'Indonésie, cannelier de Malaisie, petite cannelle

Habit:  tree

Description:  "Trees, up to 14 m tall, to 30 cm d.b.h. Bark smooth, gray-brown to dark brown outside, red inside, cassia-scented. Branchlets green or brown-green, slender, striate, glabrous. Leaves alternate or subopposite, rarely opposite; petiole 0.5-1.2 cm, plano-convex, subglabrous; leaf blade glaucous green and opaque abaxially, green and shiny adaxially, ovate or oblong to lanceolate, 5.5-10.5 x  2-5 cm, leathery, glabrous on both surfaces, triplinerved, midrib and basal lateral veins very elevated abaxially, conspicuous adaxially, basal lateral veins arising 3-8 mm above leaf base, evanescent toward leaf apex, transverse veins and veinlets somewhat elevated on both surfaces, ± reticulate, base broadly cuneate, apex shortly acuminate. Panicle axillary or subterminal, shorter than leaf, (2-) 3-6 cm, few flowered, lax, densely gray puberulent, branched, apex of branch bearing a 3-flowered cyme. Pedicels slender, 4-6 mm, gray puberulent. Flowers green-white, ca. 5 mm. Perianth densely gray puberulent outside and inside; perianth tube short, obconical, ca. 2 mm; perianth lobes oblong-ovate, acute. Fertile stamens 9, ca. 2.5 mm (of 1st and 2nd whorls) or ca. 2.7 mm (of 3rd whorl); filaments puberulent, those of 3rd whorl each with 2 subsessile globose glands, others glandless; anthers oblong, 4-celled; cells introrse (of 1st and 2nd whorls) or extrorse (of 3rd whorl). Staminodes 3, narrowly triangular, ca. 1 mm, stalked; stalk ca. 0.7 mm, puberulent. Ovary subglobose, ca. 1.5 mm, somewhat puberulent; style ca. 2 mm, angled, somewhat puberulent; stigma discoid. Fruit ovoid, ca. 8 x  5 mm; perianth cup in fruit ca. 4 mm, apex ca. 3 mm wide, dentate, teeth truncate"  (Flora of China online).

"Trees; young branches terete, glabrous.  Leaves glossy green, alternate, often opposite at tips of young branches, narrowly ovate to ovate, ca. 10 cm long, 3-4 cm wide, tripliveined, glabrous, apex gradually acute.  Flowers strigose, in short, paniculate inflorescences; tepals 6, equal, ca. 4 mm long, strigose; fertile stamens 9, outer 6 introrse, inner 3 extrorse, staminodia present, cordate.  Fruit an ellipsoid berry, subtended by a small capsule that has the basal, truncate parts of tepals attached to the rim"  (Wagner et al.,1999; p. 846).

Habitat/ecology:  Planted as a forestry tree. Naturalizes in moist and wet forests.  In Hawai‘i, "cultivated on O‘ahu, where it has become naturalized" (Wagner et al., 1999; p. 846).

Propagation:  Bird-dispersed seed.

Native range:  Southeast Asia (GRIN).

Presence:

Pacific
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Hawai‘i (Big) Island	introduced invasive cultivated	Wagner, Warren L./Shannon, Robynn K./Herbst, Derral R. (1997) (p. 57) Voucher cited: Herbst 9787 (BISH)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Kaua‘i Island	introduced invasive	Starr, Forest/Starr, Kim/Loope, Lloyd L. (2004) (pp. 23-24) Voucher cited: Starr & Starr 020225-6 (BISH)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Lāna‘i Island	introduced invasive cultivated	Oppenheimer, Hank (2007) (p. 25) Voucher cited: Oppenheimer & K.R. Wood H80623 (BISH, PTBG)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Maui Island	introduced invasive cultivated	Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R. (1995) (p. 22) Voucher cited: Flynn et al. 2717 (BISH, PTBG)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Maui Island	introduced invasive	Meidell, J. Scott/Oppenheimer, H. L./Bartlett, R. T. (1997) (p. 18) Voucher cited: Meidell & Oppenheimer 128 (BISH)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	O‘ahu Island	introduced invasive cultivated	Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R./Sohmer, S. H. (1999) (p. 846)
Philippines Philippine Islands	Philippine Islands	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
Philippines Philippine Islands	Philippine Islands	introduced cultivated	Merrill, Elmer D. (1923) (p. 187) Rare in cultivation.

Pacific Rim
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
China China	China (People's Republic of)	native	Zhengyi, Wu/Raven, Peter H./Deyuan, Hong (2011) "Sparse or dense forests and thickets, roadsides along streams; 100-1400 m (to 2100 m in Yunnan)".
China China	Hong Kong	native	Wu, Te-lin (2001) (p. 42)
Indonesia Indonesia	Indonesia (Republic of)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
Singapore Singapore	Singapore (Republic of)	introduced cultivated	Chong, Kwek Yan/Tan, Hugh T. W./Corlett, Richard T. (2009) (p. 26) Cultivated only
Vietnam Vietnam	Vietnam (Socialist Republic of)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)

Indian Ocean
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
La Réunion (France) La Réunion Island	La Réunion Island	introduced invasive cultivated	Lavergne, Christophe (2006) "Cultivé/±envahissant"

Control: 

Chemical:  "May be difficult to control. Susceptible to injected imazapyr or undiluted triclopyr amine applied to frills (Hank Oppenheimer, Maui Pine)" (Motooka et al., 2003).

Additional information:
Report (PDF format) from US Geological Survey, Biological Resources Division, Haleakala Field Station, Hawaii "Plants of Hawaii".
Excerpt from the book "Weeds of Hawaii‘s Pastures and Natural Areas; An Identification and Management Guide" (Motooka et al., 2003). (PDF format).

Additional online information about Cinnamomum burmannii is available from the Hawaiian Ecosystems at Risk project (HEAR).

Information about Cinnamomum burmannii as a weed (worldwide references) may be available from the Global Compendium of Weeds (GCW).

Taxonomic information about Cinnamomum burmannii may be available from the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN).

References:

Chong, Kwek Yan/Tan, Hugh T. W./Corlett, Richard T. 2009. A checklist of the total vascular plant flora of Singapore: native, naturalised and cultivated species. Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research, National University of Singapore. 273 pp.

Lavergne, Christophe. 2006. List des especes exotiques envahissantes a La Reunion. Unpublished manuscript (Excel file). .

Meidell, J. Scott/Oppenheimer, H. L./Bartlett, R. T. 1997. New plant records from Pu‘u Kukui watershed and adjacent areas, Maui. In: Evenhuis, Neal L. and Miller, Scott, E., eds. Records of the Hawaii Biological Survey for 1996. Part 2: Notes. Bishop Museum Occasional Papers. 49:17-18.

Merrill, Elmer D. 1923. An enumeration of Philippine flowering plants, vol. 2 [reprint]. Bureau of Printing, Manila. 530 pp.

Motooka, Philip/Castro, Luisa/Nelson, Duane/Nagai, Guy/Ching, Lincoln. 2003. Weeds of Hawaii‘s Pastures and Natural Areas; An Identification and Management Guide. College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources, University of Hawaii at Manoa. 184 pp.

Motooka, Philip/Ching, Lincoln/Nagai, Guy. 2002. Herbicidal Weed Control Methods for Pasture and Natural Areas of Hawaii. Cooperative Extension Service, College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources, University of Hawai‘i. CTAHR free publication WC-8.

Oppenheimer, Hank. 2007. New plant records from Moloka‘i, Lāna‘i, Maui, and Hawai‘i for 2006. In: Evenhuis, Neal L. and Eldredge, Lucias G., eds. Records of the Hawaii Biological Survey for 2006. Part 2: Notes. Bishop Museum Occasional Papers 96:17-34.

Starr, Forest/Starr, Kim/Loope, Lloyd L. 2004. New plant records from the Hawaiian Archipelago. In: Evenhuis, Neal L. and Eldredge, Lucius G., eds. Records of the Hawaii Biological Survey for 2003. Part 2: Notes. Bishop Museum Occasional Papers. 79:20-30.

U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. 2011. National Genetic Resources Program. Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Online searchable database.

Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R. 1995. Contributions to the Flora of Hawai‘i. IV. New Records and name changes. In: Evenhuis, Neal L. and Miller, Scott, E., eds. Records of the Hawaii Biological Survey for 1994. Part 2: Notes. Bishop Museum Occasional Papers. 42:13-27.

Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R./Sohmer, S. H. 1999. Manual of the flowering plants of Hawaii. Revised edition. Bernice P. Bishop Museum special publication. University of Hawai‘i Press/Bishop Museum Press, Honolulu. 1919 pp. (two volumes).

Wagner, Warren L./Shannon, Robynn K./Herbst, Derral R. 1997. Contributions to the flora of Hawai‘i. In: Evenhuis, Neal L. and Miller, Scott, E., eds. Records of the Hawaii Biological Survey for 1996. Part 1: Articles. Bishop Museum Occasional Papers. 48:51-65.

Wu, Te-lin. 2001. Check List of Hong Kong Plants. Hong Kong Herbarium and the South China Institute of Botany. Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department Bulletin 1 (revised). 384 pp.

Zhengyi, Wu/Raven, Peter H./Deyuan, Hong. 2011. Flora of China (online resource).