Am  Jour.  Pharm.  \ 
July,  1882.  / 
The  Useful  Ariierican  Myrtles. 
347 
aromaticus,  Linne  (s.  Eugenia  caryophyllata,  Thunberg  ;  Myrtus  Cary- 
ophylliis,  Sprengel)  which,  though  originally  indigenous  to  the  Mollucca 
Islands  is  now  perfectly  naturalized  in  the  West  Indies  and  South 
America.  The  unexpanded  flower-buds,  which  constitute  the  cloves  of 
commerce,  contain,  besides  a  considerable  amount  of  tannin,  an  aromatic 
volatile  oil,  of  which  the  eugenol  or  eugenic  acid  constitutes  the  most 
important  part,  and  very  similar  constituents  are  met  with  in  the  less 
aromatic  pedicels,  known  in  commerce  as  clove  stalks,  and  in  the 
fruit  knoAvn  as  mother  oloves  and  anthophylli.  That  the  alls})ice,  the 
fruit  of  Pimenta  vulgaris,  Wight  et  Arnoft,  s.  Eugenia  (Myrtus,  Lin.) 
Pimenta,  De  Cand,  likewise  contains  a  volatile  oil,  chemically  identi- 
cal with  the  oil  of  cloves,  is  well  known ;  besides  the  fruit,  the 
leaves  are  employed  in  the  West  Indies  as  a  spice  and  in  medicines, 
and  the  young  straight  shoots  of  the  plant  are  largely  exported  to 
be  used  for  walking  canes.  The  same  volatile  oil  seems  to  be  pre- 
sent in  the  closely  allied  Pimenta  (Amomis,  jBerg)  Pimento,  Grise- 
hach,  which  dilfers  from  the  preceding  chiefly  by  its  five-lobed  calyx 
and  by  its  longer  ovate-oblong  (instead  of  globular)  fruit.  The  bay- 
berry  tree  of  the  West  Indies,  Pimenta  acris,  W.  et  A.,  has,  likewise, 
pentaphyilous  flowers  and  a  more  ovoid  fruit,  how€^ver  the  coriaceous 
leaves  are  distinctly  reticulate  on  the  upper  surface,  and  less  distinctly 
so  beneath,  while  the  preceding  species  does  not  show  any  projecting 
veins  above.  The  typical  form  of  the  bayberry  tree  has  the  young 
branchlets,  somewhat  four-angled,  while  the  variety  pimentoides,  which 
was  formerly  regarded  as  a  distinct  species,  Myrcia  (Amomis,  Berg), 
pimentoides,  DeC.  s.  Myrtus  (Eugenia)  citrifolia,  Poir.,  has  acute 
branchlets  decurring  from  the  petioles,  and  usually  broader  and  more 
obovate  leaves.  The  oil  of  bay,  distilled  from  the  leaves  of  the 
species  mentioned  has  been  in  the  American  market  for  about  20 
years ;  that  it  contains  eugenol  was  proven  by  Mr.  R.  Pother  in  1876 
("Chic.  Pharmacist  p..  130),  and  this  was  corroborated  by  Prof.  Markoe 
in  1877  (^^Proc.  Am.  Phar.  Assoc.,  p.  435).  The  fruit  contains  the  same 
volatile  oil,  and  not  unlikely  also  the  flower-buds  ;  at  least  the  tree  is 
known  as  dove  in  some  of  the  West  Indian  islands  (Grisebach).  These 
species  and  varieties  possess  almost  identical  stimulating  properties,  and 
and  may  be  su})stituted  for  one  another  in  their  a])plications  as  medicine 
or  as  spice,  almost  indiscriminately,  or  at  least  as  far  as  the  difl'erence 
in  flavor  will  permit. 
The  clove-like  odor  is  not  confined  to  the  s[)ecies  mentioned  before, 
