It is native to Ceylon and the Malabar coast but is now grown in Java, Egypt, Brazil and the West Indies. The Jews anointed their holy vessels with cinnamon- scented oils and it is used in incense burned in Catholic churches. The bark, buds and dried unripe fruit of the Cassia, a related tree in China, are used for a less aromatic flavoring. Nutmeg and Mace are produced by an evergreen tree native to the Moluccas or Spice Islands but now grown extensively in Madagascar, Zanzibar and elsewhere. The scarlet coat, dried, is mace.
Cloves come from another evergreen tree native to the Spice Islands.
Its rose-pink flower buds, unopened, are picked and dried in the sun. Ginger, originally from southern Asia, has been grown in the volcanic soils of Jamaica since 1600 AD The only true spice native to the New World is the Allspice Tree, so named because its unripe berry, dried, seemed to combine the flavors of pepper, nutmeg and clove. Solomon's bed was perfumed with cinnamon. Egyptian kings were embalmed with aromatic oils, and Connecticut Yankees sold wooden nutmegs. Argonne National Laboratory, Division of Educational Programs, Harold Myron, Ph.D., Division Director.