CHAPTER V 
PIMENTO OR ALLSPICE 
Pimento or allspice consists of the dried unripe fruits of 
Eugenia fimenta^ DC. [Pimenta officinalis, Lindley), 
belonging to the order Myrtaceae, and to the same 
genus as the clove tree. The spice takes its popular 
name from its resemblance in perfume and taste to a 
mixture of cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg. It is also 
known as Jamaica pepper. 
In French, Piment des Anglais, Toute-epice, Poivre 
de Jamaique ; in German, Nelkenpfeffer, Nelkenkdpfe. 
The word pimento is derived from pimienta, the 
Spanish word for peppercorns, which the spice resembles. 
It was called by Redi, Pimienta de Chiapa [Chiapas in 
Mexico) and Pimienta de Tabasco. 
It seems first to have been imported into Europe 
about 1601, or a little later, and, according to Parkinson, 
substituted for round cardamoms. Ray, in 1693, 
distinguished it as a Jamaica spice under the name of 
sweet-scented Jamaica pepper or allspice. 
DESCRIPTION 
The plant is a tree from 20 to 30 ft. tall, occasion- 
ally attaining the height of 40 ft. It has a slender, 
straight, upright trunk, much branched at the top and 
covered with a smooth grey bark. The leaves are 
polished green, opposite oblong-lanceolate, tapering to 
the petiole, blunt, and somewhat emarginate at the top ; 
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