850 



MYRTACE/E. XXX. SYZYGIUM. XXXI. CARYOPHYLLUS. 



Ij . S. Native of Java, on Mount Salak. Caly'ptranthus pyri- 

 folla, Blum. 1. c. Like S. caryophyllifolium, but evidently dis- 

 tinct, in the corymbs being constantly terminal, and in the flowers 

 being much larger. 



Pear-leaved Syzygium. Tree 20 feet. 



22 S. ROSTRA'TUM (D. C. 1. c.) leaves broadly lanceolate, 

 each with a long blunt acumen, shining, full of fine parallel 

 veins ; racemes axillary or terminal, solitary or crowded ; pedi- 

 cels 3-flowered ; calyx obsoletely 4-toothed ; fruit oblong. T? . 

 S. Native of Java, on high mountains. Calyptranthus ros- 

 trata, Blum, bijdr. p. 1092. 



Beaked Syzygium. Tree. 



23 S. ? ACUMINAT'ISSIMUM (D. C. 1. c.) panicles terminal, co- 

 rymbose ; pedicels usually 3-flowered ; calyx almost quite en- 

 tire ; petals 5-6, small ; leaves lanceolate, very much acumi- 

 nated, finely veined, coriaceous ; fruit oblong. T? . S. Native 

 of Java, on the mountains. My'rtus acuminatissima, Blume, 1. c. 

 p. 1088. 



Acuminated Syzygium. Tree. 



21 S. ? MAGNOLI^FOLIUM (D. C. prod. 3. p. 261.) panicles ter- 

 minal and axillary ; flowers usually tern ; calyx nearly entire ; 

 leaves elliptic-oblong, obtuse at the apex, narrow at the base, 

 coriaceous, veined ; fruit oblong. T? . S. Native of Java, in 

 the mountain woods in the province of Burangrang. My'rtus 

 magnolisefolia, Blum, bijdr. p. 1088. 



Magnolia-leaved Syzygium. Tree 20 feet. 

 -}- Species not sufficiently known. 



25 S. METROSIDE'ROS (D. C. 1. c.) leaves ovate, scattered, ser- 

 rated ; peduncles nearly terminal, somewhat racemose ; petals 

 pilose inside. Tj . G. Native of Cochin-china, in woods. O'pa 

 Metrosideros, Lour. coch. p. 309. exclusive of the synonyme of 

 Rumph. Style bipartite. Berry 1-seeded, dry, crowned by the 

 calyx. Perhaps belonging to a different genus. 



Iron-mood Syzygium. Tree. 



26 S. BELHJ V TTA (D. C. 1. c.) arboreous ; leaves ovate, acute, 

 shining ; peduncles somewhat spicate, axillary and terminal ; 

 fruit globose. J? . S. Native of Malabar. Bellutta-Kannelli, 

 Rheed. mal. 5. t. 20. Pet. Th. diet. sci. nat. 4. p. 29. ? 



Bellutta-Kannelli Syzygium. Tree 20 feet. 



27 S. MA'KUL (Gaertn. fruct. 1. p. 166. t. 33.) Jj . S. Native 

 of Ceylon. Fruit unknown. 



Makul Syzygium. Tree. 



28 S. MYRTIFOLIUM (D. C. 1. c.) Eugenia myrtifolia, Roxb. 

 hort. beng. p. 37. 



Myrtle-leaved Syzygium. Tree 20 feet. 



29 S. HYPERICIFOLIUM (D. C. prod. 3. p. 261.) My'rtus hy- 

 pericifolia, Salisb. prod. p. 354. 



St.John's-rvort-leaved Syzygium. Tree. 



Cult. For culture and propagation see Myrcia, p. 847. 



XXXI. CARYOPHY'LLUS (The Arabs, who have been 

 acquainted from all antiquity with the clove, called it Qarumfel, 

 which the Greeks altered to Caryophyllon.) Tourn. inst. t. 432. 

 Lin. gen. 669. Gsertn. fruct. 1. p. 169. t. 33. Blum, inlitt. D. C. 

 prod. 3. p. 261. My'rtus species, Kunth. Eugenia species, Willd. 



LIN. SYST. Icosdndria, Monogynia. Tube of calyx cylin- 

 drical (f. 123. e.); limb 4-parted (f. 123. rf.). Petals 4, coher- 

 ing together into a calyptra as in Syzygium. Stamens free (f, 

 123. &.), disposed in 4 bundles, inserted in a 4-angled fleshy con- 

 cavity near the teeth of the calyx. Ovarium 2-celled (f. 123. a.) ; 

 cells 20-ovulate. Mature berry 1-2-celled, 1-2-seeded. Seeds 

 cylindrical or semi-ovate. Cotyledons thick, fleshy, concave on 

 the outside, sinuated in various ways on the inside. Radicle ris- 

 ing from the centre of the cotyledons, straight, and hidden by 

 them. Trees. Leaves opposite, coriaceous, dotted. Cymes ter- 

 minal or subcorymbose in the forks of the branches. 



8 



1 C. AROMA'TICUS (Lin. spec. FIG. 123. 



p. 735.) leaves ovate-oblong, acu- 

 minated at both ends ; cymes 

 many-flowered. Tj . S. Native 

 of the Moluccas. Hook, bot. 

 mag. 2749. and 2750. Rumph. 

 amb. 2. tt. 1, 2, 3. Blackw. t. 

 338. Eugenia caryophyllata, 

 Thunb. diss. p. 1. My'rtus 

 caryophy'llus, Spreng. The dried 

 flower-buds of this tree are the 

 cloves of the shops, the clou 

 de Giroffe of the French. Calyx 

 dark purple. Petals pale pur- 

 ple. 



Every part of the plant is co- 

 vered with minute dots or glands, 

 which contain the oil, that gives the aromatic odour. It is not 

 easy to determine when the clove was first known to Europeans. 

 J. Bauhin tells us, that the inhabitants of the Moluccas were 

 hardly acquainted with its value, till some Chinese vessels visited 

 their country, and transported many plants into China, and that 

 they were thus the means of distributing them into other dis- 

 tricts of India, into Persia and Arabia. Sir James Smith (in 

 Rees' cycl.) suspects that it was brought into Greece from Arabia, 

 and that the first distinct mention of it is made by Paulus CEgi- 

 neta, a Greek physician of the seventh century, when it was used 

 in food and in medicine ; and the same author supposes it was 

 the Carunfel of Serapion, and the Charumfel bellum of Avi- 

 cenna, two Arabian physicians. The Moluccas being discovered 

 by the Portuguese in 1511, and from that time, or very soon 

 after, it may be imagined, that cloves came into common use in 

 Europe. The clove is now cultivated in almost every part of 

 Asia, where the soil and climate are suitable ; and several of the 

 West India Islands now possess this precious vegetable, as St. 

 Vincent, Trinidad, Martinique, St. Kitts, and other French 

 Islands. The French have introduced it into Bourbon and the 

 Mauritius, through the medium of M. Poivre, their then Inten- 

 dent of those islands, who sent two vessels in 1769 to the kings 

 of Gueby and Patony, to procure the clove and other valuable 

 spices, which now succeed better in those islands than in Am- 

 boyna. Plants were sent from the Mauritius to Cayenne about 

 the year 1779, and in 1792 the plantation there contained 2500 

 trees, which bore cloves equal to those of the East Indies, and 

 fetched a higher price in France than those from the Moluccas. 



The cloves of commerce are the unexpanded flowers, the 

 corolla forming a ball or sphere on the top, between the teeth 

 of the calyx ; thus with the narrow base of the germ tapering 

 downwards, giving the appearance of a nail ; hence the Dutch 

 call it naghel ; the Spaniards clavo ; the Italians cfiiodo ; and 

 the French clou, from which the English clove is derived. 



The uses of cloves are sufficiently known, particularly in 

 domestic economy, as a seasoning in various dishes, and to give 

 flavour to wines and spirits. In medicine they are esteemed 

 tonic and exhilarating, powerfully stimulating on the muscular 

 fibres, but dangerous to bilious persons. These properties, 

 and their acrid and burning taste, depend on the essential oil. 

 Cloves yield, by distillation with water, about one-seventh of 

 their weight of volatile oil. When the alcoholic extract is freed 

 from the volatile oil by distillation with water, the oil that arises 

 proves mild, and the resin that remains insipid. Its pungency, 

 therefore, seems to depend upon a combination of these prin- 

 ciples. The Dutch oil of cloves is extremely hot, fiery, and of 

 a reddish brown colour, but is greatly adulterated both with 

 fixed oils and resin of cloves ; for the genuine oil, when re- 

 cently distilled, is comparatively mild and colourless. It is 



