Clove And Constituents Of Clove

Clove is a naturally occurring plant and is used for kitchen recipes and also used as natural medicine for treating various conditions.

Appearance

The colour of the clove is reddish-brown and is available in both whole clove and ground clove forms.

Its ground form or ground clove is a fine powder and in the whole form or whole clove , is long in shape having a crown at one end.

Botanical Name 

• The botanical name of clove is Eugenia Caryophyllus.

Family

• The family of cloves is Myrtaceae.

Other Names Of Clove

Following are synonyms or other names of the clove,

• Clove Flower

• Clove buds

• Lavang

• Caryophyllum

In Urdu language , it is also known as Laung.

Many people do know the english of laung so laung in english is known as clove.

Cultivation Of Clove

Clove is cultivated in the following countries,

• Indonesia

• Sumatra 

• Brazil

• West Indies

• India

Suitable Cultivation Conditions For Clove

For a better crop of clove plants, it is better to cultivate in moist, warm areas which have good rainfall.

Propagation Of Clove

• The clove is propagated by the vegetative method of propagation and for this seed propagation is used.

• The seeds are placed in the well-cultivated ground at a distance of 25 cm for better yield.

• Seedlings are grown in a greenhouse to give protection from sunlight and then these are placed in the ground at a 6-meter distance for growth before the rainy season.

Pharmacognostic Features Of Clove

• The height of the clove tree is 10 meters to 20 meters.

• The clove buds change colour with time.

• Cloves have a pungent taste.

Constituents Of Clove

Following medicinally important ingredients or constituents are present in the clove,

• Clove Oil or Volatile oil

• Eugenol

• Acetyl Eugenol

• Gallotannic Acid

• Vanillin

• Caryophyllene

• Terpenic acid

• Gums

• Resin

Uses Of Clove

Following are the main uses or benefits of clove,

Antiseptic

• Clove is used as an antiseptic to prevent or inhibit the growth of bacteria and yeast.

• The antibacterial effect is due to the eugenol which is present in the clove.

Carminative

• Clove is also used as carminative means it prevents the formation of gas in the GIT.

Flavouring Agent

• Clove is also used as a flavouring agent.

Anaesthetic

• Clove is also used as an oral anaesthetic and is commonly used as a home remedy for toothache.

Antiemetic

• Clove is also used as an antiemetic for this, take some drops of clove oil in water.

As Spice

• Clove is an important ingredient of kitchen spices and is used in cooking different dishes.

•  It can be used as a whole clove or in the form of clove powder.

Expectorant

• Clove is also used as an expectorant.

Types Of Clove

Following are different types of cloves depending upon the presence or absence of volatile oil,

• Exhausted Clove

• Clove Fruits

• Blown Cloves

Exhausted Clove

• The term exhausted clove is used for those cloves which are used, meaning from which we have extracted the volatile oil.

Clove Fruits

• Clove fruits are those cloves in which less amount of volatile oil is present.

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Blown Cloves

• In these cloves, the amount of volatile oil is very minute, only 5%.

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Ginger and Constituents Of Ginger