CLOVES.
Cloves were very little known to the ancients. Theophrastus, Dioscorides, and Galen do not speak of them.
Pliny says that some cloves were brought to Rome, very similar to grains of pepper but a little longer; that they were only to be found in India, in a wood consecrated to the gods; and that they served in the fabrication of perfumes.[XXIII_80]
The conquest of India by the Portuguese rendered them common throughout Europe.
Cloves contain a considerable quantity of essential aromatic oil, thick, brown, and very heavy, to which it owes its aromatic properties and sharp burning savour. Cloves are employed as a seasoning or as medicine.