Family: Lauraceae

Cinnamomum verum, commonly known as true cinnamon or Ceylon cinnamon, is a small to medium-sized evergreen tree native to Sri Lanka and southern India. It has glossy, oval leaves with distinctive veins and produces small, pale flowers followed by dark berries. The tree’s inner bark is harvested and dried to produce cinnamon, a widely used spice valued for its sweet, warm flavor. Beyond culinary uses, cinnamon has a long history in traditional medicine, perfumes, and natural remedies, and the tree is sometimes grown ornamentally or in home gardens for its aromatic foliage and bark. In Hawaiʻi, cinnamon is naturalized on Kauaʻi and Hawaiʻi Island.

While Cinnamomum verum is not currently among Hawaiʻi’s most aggressive invasive trees, it does have traits that warrant caution. It can reproduce by seed, and birds may help spread it into nearby forests, where it has the potential to establish outside cultivation. In favorable conditions, cinnamon trees can form self-sustaining populations that may compete with native plants for space and resources. Continued monitoring is important, especially on islands where it is already naturalized, to ensure it does not expand further into natural areas and negatively impact Hawaiʻi’s unique ecosystems.

High Risk Traits:

• Broad environmental and soil tolerance
  
• Shade-tolerant
  
• Bird-dispersed seeds survive gut passage
  
• Naturalized and invasive in tropical forests
  
• Human-cultivated, with a history of introduction
  
• Related species (C. camphora) is invasive

Low Risk Traits:

• No prolific seed production or persistent seed bank
  
• No vegetative reproduction or self-compatibility
  
• Not wind-dispersed or a contaminant
  
• Not toxic or allelopathic
  
• Not a major weed in agriculture or gardens