158 SPICES 



CHAP. 



flower consists of a cylindric thick ovary, ^ in. long, above 

 which are four fleshy ovate sepals, and above this the 

 four white rounded petals which form a ball in the bud 

 and fall off when the flower opens, displaying a very 

 large number of slender stamens, in the midst of which 

 is the slender style. After fertilisation by some insect 

 the stamens and style fall off, and the lower part of the 

 flower, with the calyx, develops into a fleshy, dark-pink, 

 one-seeded drupe, about 1 in. long and | in. through in 

 the thickest part, with a narrow base dilated upwards, 

 obovate in outline. The sepals are reduced to short, 

 fleshy triangular points. The seed is oblong, f in. long, 

 rather soft in texture, and grooved on one side. 



Rumphius (Herbarium Amboinense, vol. ii. p. 1) 

 describes three forms of clove plants. The first has the 

 buds hardly red when ripe ; the second, called bugu 

 lawan kiri, is smaller and red when ripe, and chiefly 

 occurs in Hitoe and Ley Timor ; the third form is hardly 

 red when fit for gathering, and the fruit is white, this 

 he calls female cloves. 



HISTORY 



The clove tree appears to be indigenous only to 

 a small number of islands in the Moluccas, namely, 

 Tidore, Ternate, Mortir, Machian, and Batchian, 

 volcanic islands in the neighbourhood of Gilolo. It 

 does not, however, appear to be wild in the last 

 mentioned island. 



The earliest record of this spice is in Chinese books 

 dating from 266 B.C. to 220 B.C., wherein officers of 

 the court are required to hold cloves in their mouths 

 when addressing their Sovereign. 



A spice which was probably cloves is mentioned by 

 Pliny as occurring in India, and resembling pepper- 

 corns, but longer and more fragile, and called Caryo- 

 phyllum. The Greek word caryophyllon is supposed 

 to be derived from caryon (a nut) and phyllon 

 (leaf), and to refer to the ball-like mass of petals and 

 stamens which terminate the bud ; but as the word is 



