Teja

Teja ( Cinnamomum iners Reinw. Ex Bl.)

SCIENTIFIC CLASSIFICATION

Kingdom : Plantae

Class : Magnoliopsida

Subclass : Magnoliidae

Order : Laurales

Family : Lauraceae

Genus : Cinnamomum

Scientific name : Cinnamomum iners Reinw. Ex Bl.

Synonym name : Cinnamomum eucalyptoides T. Nees,

Cinnamomum nitidum Blume,

Cinnamomum paraneuron Miq.

Local name (Vernacular name) : Medang Teja, Medang Kemangi, Teja Badak, Teja Lawang, Kayu Manis Hutan

English name : Wild Cinnamom

Othes name : Keningau, Mandiapa, Medang (Borneo)

DISTRIBUTION

Thailand, Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra, Java, Borneo (Sarawak, Brunei, Sabah, West-, Central- and East-Kalimantan), Philippines.

ECOLOGY

In undisturbed to slightly disturbed mixed dipterocarp and sub-montane forests up to 1400 m altitude. Mostly on hillsides and along rivers. In heavily disturbed secondary forests usually present as a pre-disturbance remnant tree.

CHEMICAL CONTENTS

• Leaf

Saponin, terpen and oil. The contents of oil are eugenol, terpen and sinamic aldehid

• Root

Saponin, terpen, eugenol, sinamic aldehid and safrol.

Bark of stem

Alkaloid, saponin and terpen.

• Stem

Saponin and terpen.

MORPHOLOGY

• Diagnostic characters

Leaves pink when young, glaucous beneath with three longitudinal veins, crushed fresh leaves and inner bark with strong smell of cinnamon. Fruit green with yellow spots when young, dark blue when ripen, calyx lobes present.

• Habit

Evergreen tree 20-30 m. tall. Crown bushy rounded. Sapwood whitish.

• Trunk and bark

Trunk straight, bark smooth and lenticellate, greyish- brown, inner bark pinkish with strong fragrant smell.

• Branches and branchlets or twigs

Twigs brownish sparsely lenticellate.

• Exudates  
• Exudate absent.

• Leaves
• Leaves simple, opposite or sub opposite, 7.5 - 30 by 2.5 - 9 cm. oblong to elliptic, apex pointed, base usually cuneate, margin entire, blade leathery, slightly brownish when drying, glaucous above, glabrous on both side.
  Three main veins flat above, proeminent below, secondary veins obliquely closely percurrent to midrib. Petiole with very short hairs. Stipules absent

.

• Inflorescences of flowers Flowers grouped in terminal or axillary panicles, bisexual, flowers with unpleasant smell.

• Fruits Fruit is a berry, ellipsoid, 1 – 1.5 cm, long and 0.6-1 cm, wide, dark green with yellow spots, blackish-violet when ripening, calyx lobes present.

• Seeds One large seed.

ANATOMICAL DESCRIPTION

• VenationMain venation close, free-ending vienlets few, unbranched; marginal venation fimbriate

• EpidermisAdaxial anticlinal walls thick and wavy, abaxial anticlinal walls wavy; stomata anomocytic

TS Lamina

Adaxial and abaxial epidermis as high as wide to 11/2 times wider than high, thick walled, outer wall of abaxial epidermis convex; hypodermis nil, palisade in 1 layer, spongy mesophyll 4-5 layers of cells, sclereids nils, crystals: acicular in palisade and spongy mesophyll, oil cells in palisade and spongy mesophyll; trichomes simple, unicellular oriented horizontally.

• TS Margin

Pointing slightly downwards, slightly tapering, sclerenchyma at edge

• TS Midrib

Outline: adaxial surface convex, abaxial surface arc-shaped. Ground tissue: sclerenchyma cells below adaxial and abaxial epidermis. Vascular tissue: open type, arc-shaped, sclerenchyma sheath nearly continuous, the adaxial part continuing into sclerenchyma below adaxial epidermis. Trichomes nil, iol cells in parenchyma tissue; crystals: acicular in parenchyma cells.

• TS Petiole

Outline: adaxial surface nearly straight, abaxial surface rounded; outer tissue: brachysclereids in ground tissue, parenchyma cells with yellowish content; oil cells abundant near periphery of petiole. Vascular tissue open type, arc-shaped, sheath absent, thick-walled fibres/sclereids in phloem; trichomes simple, unicellular occasionally seen; crystals: acicular and styloid in parenchyma cells.

USES AND PRODUCTS

• Wood

The wood is used to make joss sticks, and as a medicine against fever. As a spice it is extremely variable in quality.

Timber

The timber is insect resistant and used for house building and cabinet work

• Leaves

Leaves are used for preparing sweet drinking water in rural areas.

• Various parts

Medicinally various plant parts are used for child birth complications, fever, rheumatic poultice,and to relieve flatuence, intestinal and urinary complications.

• Bark

The bark yields an inferior grade of cinnamon but oil distilled from it and from the leaves can be used for flavouring and for incense sticks.