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CLOVES

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Originally appearing in Volume V06, Page 563 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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CLOVES , the dried, unexpanded See also:

flower-buds of Eugenia caryophyllata, a See also:tree belonging to the natural See also:order Myrtaceae. They are so named from the See also:French word clou, on See also:account of their resemblance to a See also:nail. The clove tree is a beautiful See also:evergreen which grows to a height of from 30 to 40 ft., having large See also:oval leaves and See also:crimson See also:flowers in numerous See also:groups of terminal clusters. The flower-buds are at first of a See also:pale See also:colour and gradually become See also:green, after which they develop into a See also:bright red, when they are ready for See also:collecting. Cloves are rather more than See also:half an See also:inch in length, and consist of a See also:long cylindrical°calyx, terminating in four spreading sepals, and four unopened petals which See also:form a small See also:ball in the centre. The tree is a native of the small See also:group of islands in the See also:Indian See also:Archipelago called the See also:Moluccas, or Spice Islands; but it was long cultivated by the Dutch in See also:Amboyna and two or three small neighbouring islands. Cloves were one of the See also:principal See also:Oriental spices that See also:early excited the cupidity of Western commercial communities, having been the basis of a See also:rich and lucrative See also:trade from an early See also:part of the See also:Christian era. The Portuguese, by doubling the Cape of See also:Good See also:Hope, obtained See also:possession of the principal portion of the clove trade, which they continued to hold for nearly a See also:century, when, in 16o5, they were expelled from the Moluccas by the Dutch. That See also:power exerted See also:great and inhuman efforts to obtain a See also:complete See also:monopoly of the trade, attempting to extirpate all the clove trees growing in their native islands, and to concentrate the whole See also:production in the Amboyna Islands. With great difficulty the French succeeded in introducing the clove tree into See also:Mauritius in the See also:year 1770; subsequently the cultivation was introduced into See also:Guiana, See also:Brazil, most of the See also:West Indian Islands and See also:Zanzibar. The See also:chief commercial See also:sources of See also:supply are now Zanzibar and its neighbouring See also:island See also:Pemba on the See also:East See also:African See also:coast, and Amboyna. Cloves are also grown in See also:Java, See also:Sumatra, See also:Reunion, Guiana and the West See also:India Islands.

Cloves as they come into the See also:

market have a deep See also:brown colour, a powerfully fragrant odour, and a See also:taste too hot and acrid to be pleasant. When pressed with the nail they exude a volatile oil with which they are charged to the unusual See also:pro-portion of about 18 %. The oil is obtained as a commercial product by submitting the cloves with See also:water to repeated See also:distillation. It is, when new and properly prepared, a pale yellow or almost colourless fluid, becoming after some See also:time of a brown colour; and it possesses the odour and taste See also:peculiar to cloves. The essential oil of cloves—the Oleum Caryophylli of the See also:British Pharmacopoeia—is a mixture of two substances, one of which is oxidized, whilst the other is not. See also:Eugenol, or eugenic See also:acid, C10H1202, is the chief constituent. It is capable of forming definite salts. The other constituent is a hydro-See also:carbon C15H24, of which the distilling point differs from that of eugenol, and which solidifies only with intense See also:cold. Oil of cloves is readily soluble in See also:alcohol and See also:ether, and has a specific gravity of about 1.055. Its dose is 1-3 minims. Besides this oil, cloves also contain two neutral bodies, eugenin and caryophyllin, the latter of which is an isomer of camphor. They are of .no See also:practical importance.

The British See also:

Pharmacopoeia contains an infusion of cloves (Infusum Caryophylli), of which the strength is 1. part in 40 of boiling water and the dose z-1 oz. Cloves are employed principally as a condiment in culinary operations, in See also:confectionery, and in the preparation of See also:liqueurs. In See also:medicine they are tonic and carminative, but they are little used except as adjuncts to other substances on account of their flavour, or with purgatives to prevent See also:nausea and griping. The essential oil forms a convenient See also:medium for using cloves for flavouring purposes, it possesses the medicinal properties characteristic of a volatile oil, and it is frequently employed to relieve toothache. Oil of cloves is regarded by many dental surgeons as the most effective See also:local anaesthetic they possess in cases where it is desired, before cutting a sensitive tooth for the purpose of filling it, to See also:lower the sensibility of the dentine. For this purpose the cavity must be exposed to See also:cotton See also:wool saturated with the oil for about ten days.

End of Article: CLOVES

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CLOVIO, GIORGIO GIULIO (1498-1578)

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