Several _Nicotianæ_, besides _N. tabacum_ and _N. rustica_, have been cultivated here and there by savages, or as a curiosity by Europeans. It is strange that so little notice is taken of these attempts, by means of which very choice tobacco might be obtained. The species with white flowers would yield probably a light and perfumed tobacco, and as some smokers seek the strongest tobaccos and the most disagreeable to non-smokers, I would recommend to their notice _N. angustifolia_ of Chili, which the natives call _tabaco del diablo_.[698] +Cinnamon+—_Cinnamonum zeylanicum_, Breyn. This little tree, belonging to the laurel tribe, of which the bark of the young branches forms the cinnamon of commerce, grows in great quantities in the forests of Ceylon. Certain varieties which grow wild on the continent of India were formerly considered to be so many distinct species, but Anglo-Indian botanists are agreed in connecting them with that of Ceylon.[699] The bark of _C. zeylanicum_, and that of several uncultivated species of _Cinnamonum_, which produce the _cassia_, or _Chinese cassia_, have been an important article of commerce from a very early period. Flückiger and Hanbury[700] have treated of this historical question with so much learning and thoroughness, that we need only refer to their work, entitled _Pharmacographia, or History of the Principal Drugs of Vegetable Origin_. It is important from our point of view to note how modern the culture is of the cinnamon tree in comparison with the trade in its product. It was only between 1765 and 1770 that a Ceylon colonist, named de Koke, aided by Falck, the governor of the island, made some plantations which were wonderfully successful. They have diminished in Ceylon in the last few years, but others have been established in the tropical regions of the old and new worlds. The species becomes easily naturalized beyond the limits of cultivation,[701] as birds are fond of the fruit, and drop the seeds in the forests. +China Grass+—_Boehmeria nivea_, Hooker and Arnott. The cultivation of this valuable _Urticacea_ has been introduced into the south of France and of the United States for about thirty years, but commerce had previously acquainted us with the great value of its fibres, more tenacious than hemp and in some cases flexible as silk. Interesting details on the manner of cultivating the plant and of extracting its fibres[702] may be found in several books; I shall confine myself here to defining as clearly as I can its geographical origin.