the Pink, in Botany. See Dianthus.

the Clove tree. See Botany Index.

The caryophyllus aromaticus is a native of the Molucca islands, particularly of Amboyna, where it is principally cultivated. The clove tree resembles, in its bark the olive, and is about the height of the laurel, which it also resembles in its leaves. No verdure is ever seen under it. It has a great number of branches, at the extremities of which are produced vast quantities of flowers, that are first white, then green, and at last pretty red and hard. When they arrive at this degree of maturity, they are, properly speaking, cloves. As they dry, they assume a dark yellowish cast; and when gathered, become of a deep brown. The season for gathering the cloves is from October to February. The boughs of the trees are then strongly shaken, or the cloves beat down with long reeds. Large cloths are spread to receive them, and they are afterwards either dried in the sun or in the smoke of the bamboo cane. The cloves which escape the notice of those who gather them, or are purposely left upon the tree, continue to grow till they are about an inch in thickness; and these falling off, produce new plants, which do not bear in less than eight or nine years. Those which are called mother cloves are inferior to the common sort; but are preferred in sugar by the Dutch; and in long voyages, eaten after their meals, to promote digestion.

The clove, to be in perfection, must be full sized, heavy, oily, and easily broken; of a fine smell, and of a hot aromatic taste, so as almost to burn the throat. It should make the fingers smart when handled, and leave an oily moisture upon them when pressed. In the East Indies, and in some parts of Europe, it is so much admired as to be thought an indispensible ingredient in almost every dish. It is put into their food, liquors, wines, and enters likewise the composition of their perfumes. Considered as medicines, cloves are very hot stimulating aromatics, and possess in an eminent degree the general virtues of substances of this class. Their pungency resides in their resin; or rather in a combination of resin with essential oil; for the spirituous extract is very pungent; but if the oil and the resin contained in this extract are separated from each other by distillation, the oil will be very mild; and any pungency which it does retain, proceeds from some small portion of adhering resin, and the remaining resin will be insipid. No plant, or part of any plant, contains such a quantity of oil as cloves do. From 16 ounces Newman obtained by distillation two ounces and two drachms, and Hoffmann obtained an ounce and a half of oil from two ounces of the spice. The oil is specifically heavier than water. Cloves acquire weight by imbibing water; and this they will do at some considerable distance. The Dutch, who trade in cloves, make a considerable advantage by knowing this secret. They sell them always by weight; and when a bag of cloves is ordered, they hang it, for several hours before it is sent in, over a vessel of water, at about two feet distance from the surface. This will add many pounds to the weight, which the unwary purchaser pays for on the spot. This is sometimes practised in Europe, as well as in the Spice Islands; but the degree of moisture must be more carefully watched in the latter; for there a bag of cloves will, in one night's time, attract so much water, that it may be pressed out of them by squeezing, them with the hand.

The clove tree is never cultivated in Europe. At Amboyna the Company have allotted the inhabitants 4000 parcels of land, on each of which they were at first allowed, and about the year 1720 compelled, to plant about 125 trees, amounting in all to 500,000. Each of these trees produces annually, on an average, more than two pounds of cloves; and consequently the collective produce must weigh more than a million.