=Clove= (_Eugenia caryophyllata_), a small evergreen spice tree, native of the Moluccas. The fruits are imported as mother cloves, and the stalks are used to adulterate the spice when ground. The whole plant is aromatic from the presence of the essential oil of cloves, which occurs to the extent of sixteen to eighteen per cent in the flower-buds. The dried flower buds are the cloves of commerce. Cultivated on many tropical islands and coasts, chiefly in the Moluccas, Sumatra, Java, Mauritius, Zanzibar, Jamaica, and French Guiana. The oil of cloves is widely used in flavoring and perfumery and also in medicine.
=Cocoa-nut= (_Cocos nucifera_), a small genus of palms. The cocoa-nut palm is apparently a native of the Indian Archipelago, but has been dispersed throughout the tropics from early times, flourishing especially near the sea. It has a cylindric stem reaching two feet in diameter, and from sixty to one hundred feet in height; a crown of pinnate leaves, each eighteen to twenty feet long, with a sheathing and fibrous base, succeeded by bunches of from ten to twenty fruits. These are about a foot long, six or eight inches across, three-sided, with a stony shell and one seed filling its cavity. The seed contains a fleshy kernel and a milky liquid. No tree of the tropics has so many uses, every part of it being employed, and in southern India furnishing several of the chief necessaries of life. The wood of the outer part of the stem is used, under the name of Porcupine wood, for inlaying; the leaves for thatch, mats, hats, etc.; the fibrous part under the name of coir, for cordage, etc.; the shell for bottles, cups, spoons, and when properly burned, for excellent charcoal and lamp-black. The solid white kernel contains thirty-six per cent of oil known as copra oil, from which, by pressure, the solid stearine used for candles is separated from the liquid lamp-oil. The “milk,” when fresh, is an agreeable drink; and from the sap sugar is obtained, and, by fermentation, toddy, from which vinegar and by distillation, arrack are prepared. It is extensively cultivated on the coasts of India, the East and West India Islands, and Brazil, and recently in Florida.
=Coffee Tree= (_Coffea Arabica_), originally a native of Africa attains a height of twenty-five to thirty feet. It is generally, however, kept at a much inferior height, in order to facilitate the collection of the fruit. Its leaves are evergreen; its blossoms white and fragrant. The fruit is a red berry about the size of a cherry, which contains two kernels, lying closely side by side: the coffee beans. These coffee beans are used everywhere for the preparation of that coffee which has become an indispensable beverage for many millions of people. Commercially it is of great importance, being largely grown in Brazil, Mexico, Central America, West Indies, Arabia, Java, Sumatra, Ceylon, India, and Hawaii. Brazil leads with a production of over one-half of the world’s crop. In the United States the consumption greatly exceeds that of tea.