Clove is a dried flower bud that comes from the clove tree, a native of Indonesia. The clove tree grows best in warm, humid climates with annual rainfall of 150-250cm. Cloves contain volatile oils such as eugenol that give them their aromatic, pungent taste and odor. Cloves are commonly used as a spice and in dental preparations due to their antiseptic properties.

1. CLOVE

3. SYNONYMS
Caryophyllum
Clove buds
Clove flower
Lavang (Hindi)
Laving (Guj)
BIOLOGICAL SOURCE
It consists of a dried flower bud of Eugenia
caryophyllus

4. FAMILY :-Myrtaceae
GEOGRAPHICAL SOURCE:-
Clove tree is a native of Mollucca Island
(present in indonesia).At present clove is mainly
cultivated in
Island of Zanzibar
Pemba
Amboiana and
Sumatra.
It is also found in Madagascar, Penang,
Mauritius, West Indies, Ceylon.

5. Deep rich loamy soil with high humus content is
suitable for clove cultivation. It is also found growing
favorable in open sandy loam and laterite soils of south
kerala region. Water logging of soil must be avoided. It
needs warm humid climate and grow well in in the
vicinity of see.
The annual rainfall in the range of 150-250cm is
another requirement for the cultivation of clove. It is
propagated by seed germination .The seedlings of clove
are slendered and delicate, with poor growing rate. After
six months, they are tranplanted to a pots where they are
allowed to grow for a year. Thereafter, they are again
transferred to the field and are provided with the shade in
initial stage of growth. Clove can also be grown with
arecanut, coconut or nutmeg plans.

6. Clove consist of about:
Volatile oil (15-20%)
Eugenol (70-90%)
Acetyl Eugenol
α,β- Caryopyllene
Tannins
Other substances mainly methyl furfural
and dimethyl furfural.

7. COLOUR:- Dark Brown
ODOUR:-Aromatic, Strong Spicy
TASTE:-Aromatic, Pungent, Bitter and Spicy
SIZE:-Length (12-17mm), Diameter (3-4mm)
SHAPE:-Globular, depressed at the base,
pericarp is reticular wrinkled, bears triradiate
stigma, with slender stalk about 4 mm long. It
contains only one seed. Initially it is white
and hollow.

9. dissolve a drop of clove oil in 5ml of alcohol and
add a drop of ferric chloride solution. blue colour
is seen because of phenolic OH group of Eugenol
Take a powder of clove and add it sudan(iii), Red
colour ppt is formed.
Treat a thick section of hypanthium’s clove with
50% potassium hydroxide solution. Needle shape
crystals of potassium Eugenate are seen.
prepare a decoction of clove and add it ferric
chloride solution. Blue-black colour is formed
because of the tannin.

10. Antiseptic
Carminative
Flavoring agent
Stimulant
Local anesthetic (Eugenol)
Spice
Oil in perfumery
Uses in toothache, dental preparations and mouth
washes
Clove oil and zinc oxide are used in temporary
filling of dental cavities.

11. Exhausted clove: Volatile oil is partly or completely
removed.as a result buds appear darker in color, shrunken
in form and yields no oil.
Mother cloves (anthophylli) are the ripe fruits of cloves that
are ovoid, brown berries, unilocular and one-seeded. This
can be detected by the presence of much starch in the seeds.
They also contain volatile oil but only about 3-5%.
Brown cloves are expanded flowers from which both
corolla and stamens have been detached.
Clove stalks are slender stems of the inflorescence axis that
show opposite decussate branching. Externally, they are
brownish, rough, and irregularly wrinkled longitudinally
with short fracture and dry, woody texture.

12. C.K Kokate, A.P. Purohit, S.B. Gokhale;
“Pharmacognosy”49th edition,Nirali prakashan,
january (2014) page no.14.83-14.86 .
DR. M.K Gupta, DR.P.K.Sharma; “text book of
pharmacognosy” volume 1, Pragati
prakashan,meerut. Third edition (2010).page no.
68-73.
"Clove". MedlinePlus, U.S. National Library of
Medicine and National Institutes of Health. 2014.
Retrieved August 18, 2014.