MYRTUS PIMENTA.— THE JAMAICA PEPPER, (ALLSPICE.) 
Class XII. ICQSANDRIA.— Order I. MONOGYNIA. 
Natural Order, MYRTACE^. THE MYRTLE TRIBE. 
The Pimento or All-spice tree is a native of South America and of the West Indies. It succeeds well in 
our stoves, if allowed a strong heat, flowering copiously in May and June. It grows abundantly on the 
hilly parts of the north side of Jamaica, flowering in July, and soon afterwards ripening its fruit. It was 
cultivated by Philip Miller in 1732, but the date of its introduction is uncertain. 
In its native soil this handsome evergreen tree usually rises with a straight or upright trunk to the 
height of thirty feet, branched towards the top, and covered with a smooth grey bark. The leaves are op- 
posite, on short foot-stalks, often two or three together, and vary in size and shape, but are commonly about 
four inches long, oblong-lanceolate, smooth, shining, pointed, and of a deep green colour. In their recent 
state, they have an agreeable aromatic taste, and abound in an essential oil, which appears in minute pellucid 
dots. The flowers are very numerous but small, and are produced in bunches or trichotomous panicles at 
the extremity of the branches. The calyx is divided into four roundish segments. The petals are four, re- 
flected, and of a greenish-white colour. The filaments are numerous, longer than the corolla, spreading, of 
the same colour as the petals, supporting roundish white anthers. The style is simple, erect, with an obtuse 
stigma. The fruit is a smooth, shining, succulent berry, crowned with the persistent calyx, of a black or 
dark purple colour when ripe, and containing two kidney-shaped, flattish seeds. 
The pimento tree begins to bear fruit in three years after it is planted, and arrives at maturity at seven, 
when it abundantly repays the patience of the planter. It is particularly fond of a white marly or chalky 
soil, having a shallow surface of mould, and therefore grows well on those rocky lands which are fit for little 
else. The berries are picked from the branches in their green state, and are then laid on cloths spread on 
terraced floors. During the first and second days they are often turned, to be fully exposed to the sun. 
When they begin to dry they are frequently winnowed, and laid in cloths to preserve them from rain and 
dews, still being exposed to the sun every day, and removed under cover every evening, till sufficiently dry; 
which usually happens in twelve days, and is known by the darkness of their complexion and the rattling of 
the seeds. At this time they appear wrinkled, and are of a very dark brown colour, in which state they are 
stowed in bags or casks for market. Some planters kiln-dry them, and it seems the most eligible method, 
as dispatch and security against rain are so very essential, and especially when the crops are more than 
usually abundant. 
The more odoriferous and smaller the berries are, the better are they reckoned. The leaves and bark 
of the tree are full of aromatic inflammable particles, on account of which the growers are extremely cautious 
not to suffer any fire to be made near the walks, for if it once catch the trees, they consume with great 
rapidity. Nothing, it is said, can be more delicious than the odour of the walks in which the trees are 
planted, particularly when they are in blossom. The friction of the leaves and smaller branches, even in a 
gentle breeze, diffuse a most grateful fragrance through the air, which is thought to render it very salubrious. 
Qualities and Chemical Properties. The berries of the pimento have a resemblance in smell 
and taste to cloves, juniper-berries, cinnamon, and pepper, or rather a peculiar mixture, somewhat akin to 
them all; hence their name of All-spice. The aromatic odour and warm pungent taste reside chiefly in the 
rind, or cortical part of the berry. Its virtues are extracted by water, alcohol, and ether. The watery 
infusion is of a brown colour, and reddens infusion of litmus. With .sulphate of iron it strikes a black 
colour, and lets fall a precipitate. Nitrate of mercury precipitates it of a yellowish brown; superacetate of 
lead, of a dirty green; and nitrate of silver, of a deep reddish brown colour. It forms a precipitate with the 
infusion of yellow bark. The sulphuric and muriatic acids redden it, and throw down a rose-coloured 
precipitate. The nitric acid forms no precipitate, but gives a yellow hue. The alcoholic tincture is rendered 
milky, and after a time precipitates by water ; the ethereal, when evaporated in water, deposits drops of a 
greenish yellow volatile oil, a pellicle of pungent nauseous tasted resin, and some extractive. Hence pimento 
appears to contain a volatile oil, resin, extractive, tannin, and gallic acid. The essential oil is very grateful, 
and so ponderous as to sink in water. 
