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Contents:
Common Names
Parts Usually Used
Plant(s) & Culture
Where Found
Medicinal Properties Legends, Myths and Stories
Uses
Formulas or Dosages
Bibliography
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Common Names
Clove pepper
Jamaica pepper
Pimento
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Parts Usually Used
Fruit
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Description of Plant(s) and Culture
Allspice is the dried berry of the pimento, an evergreen tree growing to 40
feet in height; it bears opposite, leathery, oblong to oblong-lanceolate leaves
whose pinnately arranged veins show prominently on the underside. Small white
flowers grow in many-flowered cymes in the upper leaf axils from June to August.
The fruit is a fleshy, sweet berry which is purplish-black when ripe. The berries
used for allspice are collected when they have reached full size but are not
yet ripe. The name comes from the berry's taste, which has been described as
a combination of cloves, Juniper berries, cinnamon, and pepper.
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Where Found
Grows in the West Indies, South America, Central America, and Mexico.
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Medicinal Properties
Aromatic, carminative, stimulant
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Legends, Myths and Stories
Allspice tastes like a blend of cloves, cinnamon, and nutmeg, but is actually
a single spice ground from the under-ripe dried berry of a tropical, evergreen
myrtle tree, native to the West Indies and Central America. Smith's Dictionary
of Economic Plants states: "In Jamaica the berries are highly spoken of
as a substitute for tobacco, being odoriferous, but they require a long pipe
to smoke them, when they afford a treat unknown in smoking tobacco."
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Uses
Pimento water and oil of pimento are helpful for flatulent indigestion or simple
flatulence; the oil is used for hysteria. Taken with a laxative, the oil lessens
the tendency toward griping.. As an ointment or a bath additive, allspice is
said to have some anesthetic effects. Also used for rheumatism and neuralgia.
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Formulas or Dosages
Pimento water: combine 5 parts crushed berries with 200 parts water and distill
down to half the original volume. A dose is from 1-2 fluid ounces.
Oil: a dose is from 2-5 drops. For flatulence, take 2 or 3 drops on sugar.
Powder: a dose is from 10-30 grains.
Plaster: boil crushed berries in water until the mixture is thick enough to spread on a linen cloth.
