Democratic Sentinel, Volume 22, Number 18, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 May 1898 — the Clove Tree. [ARTICLE]

the Clove Tree.

The .clove tree is a native of the Molucca, islands and belongs to the f«ispr4OTlfiifnily ‘6t Wyrties.«lt id a taU, .ve?y handsome -evergreen, with ovate,, oblong leaves and purplish flowers, arranged In corymbs on short, jointed stalks. The flowers are produced ifi great profusion, and when they appear, which i« at the beginning of the season, they are to the form of eilonrfatdd/ greenish buds. Vbgjfe unexpandjußde the cloves of commerce, 1 tiQlitoidartve thelr name from the €tovo, “a nail,” so called frpm the real or>f/tncled resemblance of the. bad to a nail. * , Sometimes, the clove fruit appears id ;pciaxqxerce ih, ft dried state, under the name of ‘‘mother cloves.” It has ai£ '&lbr and- Aavor similar to cloves, but is much weaker. The- flower buds are beaten from the tree and are dried by the smoke o i .Wood fires and afterward by the suns, jlf the buds remain on the trees th 4 called gradually swell, the embryo seeds enlarge and the pungent properties of the cloves are to a great degree dissipated. § fistof&M>nsist of two parts, a round head, Wbidh is, In fact, the flower rolled up, enclosing a number of small filaments, and the four points that surround the flower and form the flower cup of the unripe seed vessel. When they are soaked for a short time In hot water the flowers soften and readily unroll, so that all of the parts may be seen. '~ i '- The entire clove tree Is highly aromatic, and the footstalks of the leaves have nearly the same pungent quality as the calyx of the flower.