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Herb library · Spice · Canella winterana

Canella (wild cinnamon)

The pale, peppery bark of a small Caribbean tree, sold in 18th-century apothecary shops as "Canella alba" (white canella). It is a warm aromatic spice; it has not been studied in people.

Traditional use

Browne, writing of Jamaica in 1756, records that the tree was very common in the lower woods and rocky hills, that its bark was the "Canella alba of the shops," a pungent warm aromatic, and that its oil was often sold as, or mixed into, oil of cloves. He adds that the berries were spread through the woods by wild pigeons.

What studies show

No studies in people of this herb on its own yet. What is known of it comes from the traditions that use it.

  • Insufficient

    Digestion and the other traditional uses: no study of canella in people was found. Its compounds have been tested only in the lab, against bacteria and the malaria parasite.

Be careful of

Cautions

  • NoteThere is no modern safety information for canella taken as medicine. Small amounts as a spice are the only use with a long record.
  • Note"Wild cinnamon" and "Winter's bark" name several different plants. Ask which species a product contains.
  • PregnancyNo safety information for pregnancy or breastfeeding was found; avoid medicinal amounts then.
  • Ask a clinicianTalk with a clinician or pharmacist before using this if you take prescription medicines, are pregnant or breastfeeding, or are giving it to a child.

From the old books

What herbals and dispensaries of the past printed. History, in their words.

“The bark of this tree is the Canella alba of the shops: it is a pungent warm aromatic, and would, doubtless, answer all the purposes for which most of the other species are employed; but it is too cheap to be so much esteemed.”
Patrick Browne, The Civil and Natural History of Jamaica (1756), p. 275. See the page of The Civil and Natural History of Jamaica, p. 275 (opens in a new tab) · Read the full passage from The Civil and Natural History of Jamaica, p. 275

Sources

  1. Antiplasmodial and cytotoxic activities of drimane sesquiterpenes from Canella winterana (Nat Prod Commun, 2010) — PubMed record (opens in a new tab) · NIH · read September 25, 2026
  2. Antimycobacterial activity of chemically defined natural substances from the Caribbean flora in Guadeloupe (FEMS Immunol Med Microbiol, 1998) — PubMed record (opens in a new tab) · NIH · read September 25, 2026

Reviewed September 25, 2026.