''Cinnamomum tenuifolium'', commonly known as Japanese cinnamon, is an

evergreen In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has foliage that remains green and functional through more than one growing season. This also pertains to plants that retain their foliage only in warm climates, and contrasts with deciduous plants, whic ...

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are ...

in the genus ''

Cinnamomum ''Cinnamomum'' is a genus of evergreen aromatic trees and shrubs belonging to the laurel family, Lauraceae. The species of ''Cinnamomum'' have aromatic oils in their leaves and bark. The genus contains approximately 250 species, distributed in ...

''. It is a small- or medium-sized tree up to tall that occurs in Japan,

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

, and eastern China (

Anhui Anhui , (; formerly romanized as Anhwei) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the East China region. Its provincial capital and largest city is Hefei. The province is located across the basins of the Yangtze River ...

Fujian Fujian (; alternately romanized as Fukien or Hokkien) is a province on the southeastern coast of China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its cap ...

, Sichuan,

Jiangsu Jiangsu (; ; pinyin: Jiāngsū, alternatively romanized as Kiangsu or Chiangsu) is an eastern coastal province of the People's Republic of China. It is one of the leading provinces in finance, education, technology, and tourism, with its ca ...

Jiangxi Jiangxi (; ; formerly romanized as Kiangsi or Chianghsi) is a landlocked province in the east of the People's Republic of China. Its major cities include Nanchang and Jiujiang. Spanning from the banks of the Yangtze river in the north int ...

, and

Zhejiang Zhejiang ( or , ; , Chinese postal romanization, also romanized as Chekiang) is an East China, eastern, coastal Provinces of China, province of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Hangzhou, and other notable citie ...

provinces). In China it is under second-class national protection.

Range and habitat

''Cinnamomum tenuifolium'' is known from 40 to 50 localities in southern Japan, southern Korea, Taiwan, and Anhui, Fujian, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, and Zhejiang provinces of eastern China. The species has a large

extent of occurrence Extent may refer to: Computing * Extent (file systems), a contiguous region of computer storage medium reserved for a file * Extent File System, a discontinued file system implementation named after the contiguous region * Extent, a chunk of st ...

(EOO) of 1,235,974 km², and an area of occupancy (AOO) of 68 km². Its typical habitat is lowland evergreen forest between 300 to 1,000 meters elevation.

Conservation and threats

''Cinnamomum tenuifolium'' is affected by

habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss and habitat reduction) is the process by which a natural habitat becomes incapable of supporting its native species. The organisms that previously inhabited the site are displaced or dead, thereby ...

from deforestation and conversion of forests to agriculture and plantations. The species' extent of occurrence and area of occupancy are declining. Despite declining habitat, the species' conservation status is assessed

Least Concern A least-concern species is a species that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as evaluated as not being a focus of species conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild. T ...

in consideration of its wide extent of occurrence and large number of locations.

Uses

The timber is hard and durable, and is used for furniture and house construction. Volatile oil from the bark and leafy branchlets is used as perfume. Oil and fat from fruit kernels is used to make soap.

References

External links

Cinnamon species page
from multilingual multiscript plant name database tenuifolium Spices Trees of China Trees of Japan Trees of Korea Flora of Taiwan Taxobox binomials not recognized by IUCN {{Laurales-stub