Growing Cinnamon

[Fuerte Rav]

I bought a baby cinnamon tree at the local market today - first time I'd ever seen one. I've been reading online about the needed cultivation but just wondered if anyone here has experience/tips?
It's about 20cm tall at the moment with 3 stems.

[estación seca]

There are a lot of plants called cinnamon. Do you know the botanical name of this one? It doesn't resemble the trees in genus Cinnamomum whose bark is used for the spice.

[Fuerte Rav]

Thanks ES.
It was just labelled Canela and being sold with herbs and fruit trees so I thought .......
Oh well, I'll see what it becomes anyway

[estación seca]

Yes, it will be interesting. Do the leaves have any scent?

[Paphluvr]

Originally Posted by Fuerte Rav

Thanks ES.
It was just labelled Canela and being sold with herbs and fruit trees so I thought .......
Oh well, I'll see what it becomes anyway

I think what you have is called Mexican Cinnamon. True cinnamon is from the genus Cinnamomum.

[Leafmite]

I grow the zeylanicum type. If the Mexican one is similar, it will like to stay moist but not wet, enjoys extra iron, and a good soil mixture is half peat and half perlite. Like many tropical plants, it prefers a lower pH.

[rhodo]

Originally Posted by Fuerte Rav

Thanks ES.
It was just labelled Canela and being sold with herbs and fruit trees so I thought .......
Oh well, I'll see what it becomes anyway

If it was labeled correctly then there is a chance that is is Cinnamomum verum, also known as true cinnamon. I don't think I've personally tasted it, but I've heard it's quite delectable.

[Leafmite]

The leaves are patterned the same way as my Cinnamon tree so it is a type of Cinnamon.

Here is an easy guide to growing it:

How to Easily Grow Cinnamon at Home in a Container

Here is a video that might help:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJezsCLyEWY

[Fuerte Rav]

Originally Posted by estación seca

Yes, it will be interesting. Do the leaves have any scent?

No scent that I can discern but then my nose is not very good at picking up a lot of smells - too much smoking probably

---------- Post added at 08:51 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:50 PM ----------

Thank you so much to everyone who has replied - I'll be following progress closely and let you know what happens.

[Paphluvr]

If you look at the arrangement of the leaves on the stem I think you will find it it closely related to this, genus Canella:

Canella Winterana | Treeworld Wholesale

It is considered a type of cinnamon, just not genus Cinnamomum.