Cinnamon
CINNAMON (קִנָּמוֹן, H7872, κιννάμωμον, G3077); Cinnamon Tree bark.
Cinnamon bark is by inference mentioned in Exodus 30:23; Proverbs 7:17 and Song of Solomon, while the Gr. word “Kinamōmon” appears in Revelation 18:13. There is no doubt as to the name of this tree: it is Cinnanomum zeylanicum. It grows about thirty ft. high, and bears small, white flowers on spreading branches. The best cinnamon comes from three-year-old branches. The oil is distilled from the bark after it has been softened by soaking in sea water. This bark is graysmooth, and often speckled with orange and greenish spots. Though today cinnamon is not liked as a perfume, the Hebrews in the olden days thought of it as a glorious scent.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915)
Mentioned, like cassia, as a perfume. In Ex 30:23 it is one of the ingredients of the "holy anointing oil"; in Pr 7:17 it is, along with myrrh and aloes, a perfume for a bed; in So 4:14 it is a very precious spice. Cinnamon is (Re 18:13) part of the merchandise of "Babylon the great."
Cinnamon is the product of Cinnamomum zeylanicum, a laurel-like plant widely cultivated in Ceylon and Java. It has a profuse white blossom, succeeded by a nut from which the fragrant oil is obtained. The wood is the inner bark from branches which have reached a diameter of from 2 to 3 inches; the epidermis and pulpy matter are carefully scraped off before drying. In commerce the cheaper Cassia ligra of China is sometimes substituted for true cinnamon, and it is thought by some authorities that this was the true cinnamon of the ancients.
See, however, CASSIA.