Cinnamomum tamala
Dried leaves
The Indian bay leaf ( Cinnamomum tamala ), also called Mutterzimmt, is a species of the laurel family ( Lauraceae ). The leaves are used as a spice.
- 6.1 Notes and references
Description
Appearance, bark and foliage leaf
The Indian bay leaf grows as a medium-sized, evergreen tree that reaches the plant height of 10 to 20 meters and trunk diameter of up to 1.5 meters. The gray - brown bark smells and contains mucus. The first more or less edged branches have sparse gray fluffy hairy bark that verkahlt soon. Later the branches are terete and have a tea - brown, bare bark. The small terminal buds have two bud scales and a silky coat.
The alternate and spiral or nearly opposite continuously arranged on the branches of leaves is divided into petiole and leaf blade. The slender petiole is 0.5 to 1.5 cm long. The firm, thin ledrigene, bald leaf blade is ovate with a length of 7.5 to 15, sometimes to 25 cm and a width of usually 3 to 5.5 ( 2.5 to 8 ) cm, oblong to lanceolate with an acute Spreitenbasis and a long- pulled tip. There are three characteristic from the base to parallel, present on the leaf surface significantly and on the underside of leaves indistinctly raised leaf veins, in between lies a tiny Netznervatur. The upper leaf surface is smooth, glossy green and the lower leaf surface is dull and green and white.
Inflorescence and flower
The flowering period extends from April to May The side or nearly terminal slim, branched, Rispige inflorescence has a length of 5 to 10 cm and has many flowers. The 1-4 cm long inflorescence stem and rachis are covered with fine hair - gray fluffy. The thin flower stem is 4-8 mm long and covered with fine hair gray fluffy.
The hermaphrodite, radial symmetry flowers have a diameter of up to 6 mm. The six durable, white - green bracts are fused with a length of 3 to 4 mm long and at its base short tubular and externally sparsely and densely hairy fluffy inside. The inverted - conical flower tube is less than 2 mm long. The free areas of the bloom with a length of about 4 mm and a width of about 1.5 mm obovate -oblong with blunt end. In three circles are three fertile stamens; they are only slightly shorter than the bloom. The gray shaggy little stamens possess about their height Eindrittel small glands. The dust bags are oval. It is a circle with three pike -like, shaggy hairy staminodes present, which are 1.7 mm long. The egg-shaped with a length of about 1.2 mm ovary is hairy shaggy. The pudgy stamp is equal to or up to three times as long as the ovary and ends in a small, inconspicuous, shield-shaped scar.
Fruit
The stone fruit is slender with a length of 10 to 14 mm and a diameter of up to 11 mm, obovate or elliptical with a pointed end. The fruit ripens from June to July. The fleshy fruit cup is at a height of up to 5 mm and at the edge with a diameter of 7 mm inverted - conical. Its basal area merges into the 8 -mm-long inverted - conical fruit stalk.
Occurrence
Cinnamomum tamala cultivated in tropical and subtropical areas of the Himalayas from the Indus to Bhutan at altitudes 300-2400 m. The home sites are in Nepal, Bhutan, Sikkim, western Yunnan, and the Khasi - Jaintia and mountains and in eastern Bengal in India.
Trivial names in some languages
Hindi: तेज पत्ता, तेजपत, tejapattā, Tej - patta, Tejpat; Bengali: tamala, tejpat; Gujarati: tamalapatra, tejpat; Tamil: தாளிசபத்திரி, இலவங்கபத்திரி, பட்டை, Talishapattiri, Ilavangapattiri, Pattai; Maithili: पत्रक, Patrak; Marathi: तमाल पत्र, Tamal patra; Urdu: تیز پات, Tez pat; Ancient Greek: Μαλαβάθρον, malabathron; Latin: Malabathrum; English: Indian cassia lignea; French: Laurier des Indes.
System
The first description of this kind took place in 1822 under the name Laurus tamala by Francis Buchanan - Hamilton in Transactions of the Linnean Society of London, 13, (2 ), pp. 555-558. The specific epithet is derived from the Bengali tamala trivial names. The benevolent species name was Theodor Friedrich Ludwig Nees 1831 in of Esenbeck & Johann Christopher Erdwin Ebermaier: Handb Med -Pharm. Bot, 2, pp. 426 published. Synonyms for Cinnamomum tamala ( Buch.-Ham. ) T.Nees & Eberm. are: Laurus cassia auct. non L.: D.Don, Laurus sailyana Ham, Ham .. Laurus soncaurium.
Use
To flavor the leaves are used. Indian bay leaves are used in North Indian cuisine as a condiment. There seasons zimtähnlicher her scent stewed meat and rice.
From Antiquity to the Middle Ages they were but also in Europe under the Latin name Malabathrum known; in recipes is often only folia ( "leaves" ). In modern editions of recipes from these eras, they are usually replaced without comment by the leaves of the laurel southern rights, but the taste is different.
The Indian bay leaf is sometimes confused with the "salam leaf ", these are, however, to the Indonesian bay leaf ( Eugenia polyantha ), which tastes different and much weaker.
Swell
- AJGH Kostermans: Lauraceae in the Flora of Pakistan: Cinnamomum tamala - Online.
- Xi -wen Li, Jie Li & Henk van der Werff: Cinnamomum in the Flora of China, Volume 7, 2008, p 182: Cinnamomum tamala - Online.
- Sheet at AgroForestryTree Database.