68 FLOWERS 



5 per cent, solution of potassium hydroxide with which the eugenol forms a 

 water-soluble compound ; the caryophyllene which floats on the surface can 

 be measured by suitable means and deducted from the volume of oil used, the 

 difference being eugenol. Specific gravity 1-047 to 1-065. The oil is largely 

 used for the production of vanillin. 



Uses. Cloves are used as an agreeable aromatic stimulant, anti- 

 spasmodic, and carminative, properties that are due to the volatile 

 oil they contain. 



Varieties, &C. Although Zanzibar supplies the bulk of the cloves 

 imported, those from Penang, Amboyna and Madagascar are con- 

 sidered the best and realise the highest prices. Smaller quantities 

 are imported from Java, the Seychelles, Ceylon, &c. 



Penang cloves are large, plump, and of a bright, reddish- brown 

 colour ; Amboyna cloves are similar but rather smaller ; Zanzibar 

 cloves are darker in colour, leaner, and smaller still. 



' Blown ' cloves are the expanded flowers from which both corolla 

 and stamens have usually been broken off (forming clove dust). 



Clove Stalks. These do not often exceed 3-5 cm. in length or 3 mm. 

 in thickness ; they branch usually twice or thrice trichotomously, 

 the ultimate branchlets which support the flowers being about 3 mm. 

 long. They are brownish, dry and woody ; they break with a short 

 fracture, and exhibit in transverse section but few oil-glands. They 

 have, however, when crushed, an aromatic odour and a pungent 

 clove-like taste. They yield much less volatile oil than cloves (about 

 5 to 7 per cent.), and that which they do yield is less aromatic. They 

 are said to be used for adulterating powdered cloves, a sophistication 

 easily determined by microscopical examination (they contain iso- 

 diametric sclerenchymatous cells x which do not occur in cloves) 

 and by the amount of ash yielded by the drug, good cloves affording 

 not more than 7 per cent. 



Mother cloves (' anthophylli '). Of the numerous ovules contained 

 in the ovary of the clove, only one arrives at maturity. After fertilisa- 

 tion it rapidly increases in size, pushes the other ovules and 

 surrounding tissue aside, and forces its way into the lower part of 

 the ovary (compare fig. 38, C). The ripe fruits are ovoid brown 

 berries and about 12 mm. long. They contain much less oil than 

 cloves, and are said to be used for adulterating powdered cloves ; 

 their presence can easily be detected, as they contain starch, from 

 which cloves are free. 



Exhausted cloves, i.e. cloves which have been deprived of their 

 volatile oil by distillation, are darker, yield no oil when indented with 

 the nail and float in water. 



1 Compare Greenish and Collin, Anatomical Atlas, p. 96. 



