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Syzygium aromaticum
Also called Clovetree, Cloves
In Singapore: Clove, Cengkih, Chengkeh, Chingkeh, 丁香 (Grown in Singapore)
Clove is an evergreen tree whose unopened flower buds are harvested and dried as a spice. It needs a hot, humid, frost-free tropical climate and is rarely grown as a houseplant.
Cloves are the aromatic flower buds of a tree in the family Myrtaceae, Syzygium aromaticum (). They are native to the Maluku Islands, or Moluccas, in Indonesia, and are commonly used as a spice, flavoring, or fragrance in consumer products, such as toothpaste, soaps, or cosmetics. Freshly harvested cloves are available throughout the year owing to different harvest seasons across various countries.
Cloves are used in the cuisine of Asian, African, Mediterranean, and the Near and Middle East countries, lending flavor to meats (such as baked ham), curries, and marinades, as well as fruit (such as apples, pears, and rhubarb). Cloves may be used to give aromatic and flavor qualities to hot beverages, often combined with other ingredients such as lemon and sugar. They are a common element in spice blends (as part of the Malay rempah empat beradik –"four sibling spices"– besides cinnamon, cardamom and star anise for example), including pumpkin pie spice and speculaas spices.
Syzygium glaucum · Anise Myrtle · Syzygium antisepticum · Watery roseapple · Scrub cherry · Boxleaf Eugenia · Syzygium cerasiforme · Syzygium conglomeratum · Bumpy satinash · Java plum · Weeping Myrtle · Sea apple
[Contains information from Leaf Area Index (LAI) and Heritage Trees from data.gov.sg (National Parks Board), made available under the terms of the Singapore Open Data Licence version 1.0]
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Clove by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
