Though exceeding 40 ft. in the tropics, bay rum remains small in SW Florida. This fragrant evergreen is native to the West Indies and South America. The Bay rum tree has flaky bark, leathery leaves, aromatic flowers, and small black fruit. This aroma was formerly captured by distilling the leaves in rum, and used as an after-shave and hairdressing. Now the oils are extracted with water and are used in cooking, and perfume blends.
Bay rum is less cold hardy than allspice.
Cinnamon , Cinnamomum verum syn. C. zeylanicum is an evergreen, heavily branching tree that in this area will likely remain under 20 ft. The spice itself is the bark, peeled from the branches. The day after harvest the outer corky bark is scraped off and the inner bark is allowed to curl into the familiar cinnamon sticks as it dries. The leaf petiole can be chewed for a cinnamon flavor.