Searching for the 'lame grass' tree in the region of Vietnam's number one cinnamon tree

(Baonghean.vn) - 'Cỏ quê' is the name of the Thai people for cinnamon trees. At one time, Quế Phong cỏ quê was a famous crop in the whole country with the saying: 'First is Quỳ cinnamon, second is Quảng cinnamon'.However, starting in the 90s of the last century, this tree species almost “disappeared” due to many reasons. After nearly 30 years, Que Phong district is making every effort to find the original cinnamon trees with the aim of preserving the genetic resources of this unique and rare plant species.

In the remote villages of the communes: Thong Thu, Dong Van, Tien Phong... in the 80s of the last century was the golden age of indigenous cinnamon trees with thousands of hectares. At that time, Nghe An planned a cinnamon area of ​​up to nearly 10 thousand hectares in the two districts of Quy Chau and Que Phong, in which most of the planned area belonged to Que Phong. From here, cinnamon was exported to many localities in the country, even cinnamon essential oil was exported to Russia. At that time, along with Thanh Hoa, Yen Bai, Quang Nam, cinnamon in Que Phong was one of the four key regions of the country. Nghe An's cinnamon was superior in quality and this area was considered "the most famous cinnamon in the country".

By the 90s, the Quỳ cinnamon brand gradually faded away because the cinnamon raw material area was mixed with many foreign cinnamon varieties. Along with that, the price of cinnamon hit rock bottom, so people were no longer interested in this tree. Instead, people switched to many other crops. Up to now, Que Phong district only has a small part of the cinnamon growing area under Project 327 (Reforestation of barren hills) and Project 661 (Planting 5 million hectares of new forests). Of course, this is not the native Quỳ cinnamon variety.

Because of the long life cycle and low economic efficiency, people are not interested in maintaining cinnamon cultivation. The cinnamon areas planted under the 327 program, mainly imported from Yen Bai province, have been gradually exploited after more than 10 years. However, native cinnamon trees have become very rare.

Native cinnamon has a thin bark and a much stronger aroma and flavor than foreign cinnamon. In the photo is cinnamon bark harvested by a household in Thong Thu commune under the 327 program.

At this time, the price of dry cinnamon is purchased from 30,000 - 35,000 VND/kg.

It is estimated that on average each mature cinnamon tree yields 3 - 5 kg of bark.

In addition to the main trunk, the bark at the top of the cinnamon tree is collected to make incense.

Following the instructions of the officers of the Department of Agriculture of Que Phong district, we went to the family of Mr. Ha Sy Que in Long Quang village, Tien Phong commune to see this special native cinnamon tree with our own eyes. It is known that during a trip to the forest nearly 30 years ago, Mr. Que found this cinnamon tree deep in the forest, and he brought it back to plant in his garden.

From a sapling only about 2 spans tall, now, after 30 years of cultivation, this Quỳ cinnamon tree is over 15 m tall, with a diameter of nearly 130 cm. Mr. Que said that many people have offered to buy it for more than 2 taels of gold, but he has refused to sell. Because he wants to protect and preserve the original cinnamon tree of the locality. Currently, the Que Phong district government is making efforts to search for and mark Quỳ cinnamon roots with the aim of preserving the precious tree as well as its genetic resources.

The mark of time on the cinnamon tree.

Next to the remaining cinnamon tree stump, there are saplings growing, which opens up hope for the conservation of this endemic tree species.

NPV