CLOVES.
(Eugenia
caryophyllata Thunberg.)
DR. ALBERT SCHNEIDER,
Northwestern University School of Pharmacy.
Page 2 of 2
| We
know that cloves were used by the ancient Egyptians, for
a mummy has been found with a necklace of them. The
Chinese used them extensively, 226 B.C. Plinius briefly
described “Caryophyllon,” which, according to
some commentators, referred to cloves and according to
others to cubebs. Cloves appeared in Europe about 314335
A. D., evidently introduced by way of Arabia. Emperor
Constantine, who ruled about that time made Pope
Sylvester of Rome, among other things, a present of 150
pounds of cloves. In Grecian literature cloves are first
mentioned about the Sixth century. Trallianus recommended
them in stomach troubles and in gout. The Germans designate cloves as Gewiirznagelein, which means spice nails, because of their resemblance to a nail, the corolla forming the head and the calyx tube the nail. The aromatic odor and pungent aromatic taste is due to an etherial oil present in large quantities (18 per cent.) in the calyx tube. This oil is used for various purposes; as a clearing reagent in microtechnique, for toothache, as an antiseptic, stomachic, irritant. It destroys insects and keeps them away. When freshly extracted its color is pale amber but it gradually assumes a reddish brown coloration. It is one of the least volatile of ethereal or essential oils. It is also used by soapmakers and perfumers. Cloves are variously used as a spice. They are often stuck into pickled fruits, as peaches, apples, apricots. The opening quotation from Shakespeare suggests such a use with lemons. Some persons acquire an inelegant and undesirable habit of chewing cloves. The pungent oil deadens or benumbs the nerves of taste and touch and the persistent mastication of cloves, is said to produce an excessive development of fibrous tissue of the liver, a condition akin to “nutmeg liver” which shall be referred to in our next paper. |
Other
parts of the clove tree are also used occasionally, as
for instance the flower stalks known as clove stalks.
They possess the odor and taste of cloves but in a lesser
degree. Formerly the leaves were also used but it is said
that they do not now appear in commerce. The dried fruit
known as mother of cloves is used more or less. They
contain far less oil than cloves and are comparatively
less valuable. Even the wood of the tree has been used as
a spice. The dried and ground flower stalk, the fruits
and the wood are often used to adulterate ground cloves.
We would therefore advise housewives to purchase the
cloves and grind them at home. It is reported that cloves
have been adulterated with false cloves made from starch
pressed into the form of cloves and roasted. It is,
however, not at all likely that such a practice is
carried on to any great extent. Sometimes cloves are
placed on the market from which the oil has been
extracted. The cultivated cloves are richer in essential oil than the native cloves. The Zanzibar cloves are quite large. The principal market varieties are English cloves, Amboine cloves, Bourbon cloves, Cayenne cloves, Zanzibar cloves, and others. EXPLANATION OF PLATE. A, flowering branch, nearly natural size; I, floral bud; 2, floral bud in longitudinal section; 3, stamens; 4, pollen grains; 5, ovary in transverse section; 6, fruit, about natural size; 7, fruit in transverse section; 8, embryo; 9, part of embryo. |