350 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES. 



but of course it is raised here only as a mere orna- 

 ment or curiosity of the hot-house. 



The clove is a handsome tree, somewhat like the 

 bay tree in some of its characters, though the 

 leaves more nearly resemble those of the laurel. 

 The flowers of the clove grow in bunches at the 

 very extremity of the branches ; when they first ap- 

 pear, which is at the beginning of the rainy season, 

 they are in the form of elongated greenish buds, 

 from the extremity of which the corolla is expanded, 

 which is of a delicate peach-blossom colour. When 

 the corolla begins to fade, the calyx turns yellow, and 

 then red : the calyces, with the embryo seed, are in this 

 stage of their growth beaten from the tree, and after 

 being dried in the sun, are what are known as the 

 cloves of commerce. If the fruit be allowed to re- 

 main on the tree after arriving at this period, the 

 calyx gradually swells, the seed enlarges, and the 

 pungent properties of the clove are in great part 

 dissipated. Each berry contains only one seed, 

 which is oval, dark coloured, and of a considerable 

 size. It is a long time before a clove-tree yields 

 any profit to the cultivator ; it rarely producing fruit 

 till eight or nine years after being first planted. 



The whole tree is highly aromatic, and the foot- 

 stalks of the leaves have nearly the same pungency 

 as the calyx of the flowers. * Clove-trees, ' says 

 Sir T. Raffles, 'as an avenue to a residence are 

 perhaps unrivalled their noble height, the beauty of 

 their form, the luxuriance of their foliage, and above 

 all, the spicy fragrance with which they perfume the 

 air, produce, on driving through a long line of them, 

 a degree of exquisite pleasure only to be enjoyed in 

 the clear light atmosphere of these latitudes.' 



Cloves contain a very large proportion of essential 

 oil, larger perhaps than any other plant or parts of a 



