FRUCTUS PIMENTiE. 287 



As they contain very large starch-granules, their presence as an adul- 

 teration of ground cloves would be revealed by the microscope. 



3. Roijal Cloves — Under this name or Cai^&phylluin regium, a 

 curious monstrosity of the clove was formerly held in the highest 

 reputation, on account of its rarity and the strange stories told respect- 

 ing it/ Specimens in our possession show it to be a very small clove, 

 distinguished by an abnormal number of sepals and large bracts at the 

 base of the calyx-tube, the corolla and internal organs being imperfectly 

 developed. 



FRUCTUS PIMENTO. 



Semen Amomi; Pimento, Allspice, Jamaica Pepper ; F. Poivre de la 

 JamaJique, Piment des Anglais, Toute-epice ; G. Nelkenpfeffer, 

 Nelkenkopfe, Neugewiirz. 



Botanical Origin — Pvmenta ojfficinalis Lindley''' (MyHus Pimenta 

 L., Eugenia Pimenta DC), a beautiful evergreen tree, growing to about 

 30 feet in height, with a trunk 2 feet in circumference, common 

 throughout the West India Islands. In Jamaica, it prefers limestone 

 hills near the sea, and is especially plentiful on the north side of the 

 island. 



History — The high value placed on the spices of India sufficiently 

 explains the interest with which aromatic and pungent plants were 

 regarded by the early explorers of the New World ; while the eager 

 desire to obtain these lucrative commodities is shown by the names 

 Pepper, Cinnamon, Baharn, Mel^gueta, Amomum, bestowed on pro- 

 ductions totally distinct from those originally so designated. 



Among the spices thus brought to the notice of Europe were the 

 little dry berries of certain trees of the myrtle tribe, which had some 

 resemblance in shape and flavour to peppercorns, and hence were 

 named Pimientu,^ corrupted to Pimenta or Pimento. It was doubt- 

 less a drug of this kind, if not our veritable allspice, that was given to 

 Clusius in 1601 by Garret, a druggist of London, r.nd described and 

 figured by the former in his Liber Exoticorum* A few years later it 

 began to be imported into England, being, as Parkinson ° says, 

 " obtruded for Amornum " {Round Cardamom), so that " some more 

 audacious than wise . . . put it in their compositions instead of the 

 right." Francesco Redi mentioned the fruits as Pimienta de Chapa ; 

 Chiapas, now the south-eastern department of Mexico, bordering 

 Guatemala. Redi states that the spice was also called Pimienta de 

 Tavasco from the adjoining department of Tabasco. According to 



Nov. 27, 1873, the announcement of the Yahnont de Bomare, Diet. cTHist. NaL iii. 



sale of 1,050 bags of Mother Cloves at 2d. (1775) 70. 



to 3(Z. per ft., besides 4,200 packages of ' Fig. in Bentley and Trimen, Med. 



Clove Stalks at 3</. to 4d. per lb. Playits, part 20 (1877). 



1 Rumphius in his letter from Amboina, ^ Pimienta, the Spanish for pepper, is 



Sept. 20, 1696, to Dr. Schrock, in Ephe- derived from pigmentum, a general name in 



merides Acad. Ccbs. Leopold. Decur. iii. mediaeval Latin for spicery. — Malagnetta 



Frankfurt and Leipzig. 1700. p. 308, with (see article Grana Paradisi) is also a name 



figure. — Also Rumphius, Herb. Amb. ii.' which has been transferred by theSpaniards 



(1742) 11. tab. 2. — See also Hasskarl, j.nd Portuguese to the drug under notice. 



Neuer Schliissel zu Sumph's Herb. Amb., * Lib. i. c. 17. 



Halle, 1866 ; Berg, Lintuea, 1854. 137 ; ' Theatrum Botanicum (1640) 1567. 



