The clove tree needs no pruning with the exception of topping, and no
manuring except by leaves which fall from the trees, which are very good
fertilizers.
The flowers are of a delicate pink color and grow at the extremity of
the branches. There are from nine to fifteen flowers in a cluster. These
clusters, or branched peduncles, are arranged in tricahatomous terminal
cymes, jointed to the branches. The unexpanded corolla forms a ball on
the top of the bud between four of the calyces. The calyx is elongated
and to it the ovary is united. It tapers downward and is the cup of the
unripe fruit seed, giving the seed the resemblance of the clove (garafa,
which is no doubt a corruption of the French word girofle).
As soon as the corolla begins to fade the calyx changes its color, first
to yellow and green (Fig. 6), and then to red (Fig. 5), and, together
with the embryo seed, which is about the size of a small pea, is at this
stage of its growth the clove of commerce and is ready for harvesting.
If it is allowed to remain on the tree three weeks longer it will
gradually swell, forming an oblong berry containing one or two cells and
as many seeds. It is then ripe, and is known as the mother clove (by the
native, paleng). It has then lost the pungent property of the clove and
will have entirely lost its value as a spice, and is valuable only for
seed.
The clove, then, we find composed of two parts. The part we use is the
flower clove. It is about six-tenths of an inch in length. It has a long
cylindrical calyx, dividing above into four pointed spreading sepals,
which surround four petals or leaves that are the unexpanded flowers.
Thus the filaments are rolled into a globular bud or head of the clove,
which is about two-tenth of an inch in diameter. The parts may be seen
by soaking the clove in water, when the leaves will soften and unroll.
The petals are of a light color on account of their numerous oil cells,
which spring from the base of a four-sided epigynous disc with angles
directed towards the lobes of the calyx. The stamens are very numerous,
being inserted at the base of the petals and arched over the style,
which is short and sublate and rises from depressions in the center of
the disc. Immediately below it, and united with the upper portion of the
calyx, is the ovary, which is two-celled and contains many ovules.
The lower end of the calyx (hypanthium) has a compressed form, is solid,
but has internal tissues which are far more porous than the walls, the
whole calyx being of a deep, rich brown color. It has a dull, wrinkled
surface and dense, fleshy texture, and abounds in essential oil which
exudes on a simple pressure of the finger nail.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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