Eden Apothecary · Herb Profile
Syzygium aromaticum
Pronounced Clove: klohv. Latin Syzygium aromaticum: si-ZIJ-ee-um a-roh-MAT-ih-kum.
Hot, dry aromatic stimulant: kindles cold, torpid digestion, disperses gas and damp-cold stagnation, and numbs pain (eugenol) where tissues are chilled and atonic, not hot or inflamed.
Culinary amounts of clove bud are considered safe (FDA GRAS). Therapeutic doses, concentrated supplements, and clove essential oil are not recommended in pregnancy: eugenol has antiplatelet activity and is a mucosal irritant at concentration. Source: AHPA Botanical Safety Handbook, 2nd ed. (2013); NCCIH/LiverTox.
Culinary use is compatible with lactation. Modern data on therapeutic doses and clove oil are insufficient; avoid concentrated internal use of the essential oil while nursing. Source: AHPA Botanical Safety Handbook, 2nd ed. (2013); Mills & Bone, Principles and Practice of Phytotherapy.
Culinary clove is fine. Clove essential oil must NOT be given internally to infants or children and is not recommended for teething; ingestion of 5 to 10 mL has caused fulminant hepatic failure, seizures, CNS depression, and disseminated intravascular coagulation. Source: LiverTox, Eugenol (Clove Oil), NBK551727; Eur J Pediatr 2005, PMID 15895251.
Concentrated clove essential oil is a mucosal and dermal irritant and can damage dental pulp and gums with repeated undiluted use. Internal use of the essential oil is hazardous. Keep clove oil away from children.
Known eugenol or clove hypersensitivity; active GI ulceration or acute gastritis (hot, irritant herb); bleeding disorders. Do not ingest the undiluted essential oil.
Widely cultivated (Zanzibar and Pemba, Madagascar, Indonesia, Sri Lanka); not wild-at-risk and not on the United Plant Savers list. Prefer organic, fair-trade sourcing to support growing communities.
Not named in canonical Scripture. Native to the Maluku (Spice) Islands of Indonesia; reached the Mediterranean only as a costly trade spice, described by the Roman world (Pliny the Elder, Natural History, 1st c. AD, as 'caryophyllon'). A classical Ayurvedic dravya (Lavanga). Included in this materia medica among the Ayurvedic and Mediterranean-trade aromatics.
The same herb can calm one person and wire another. Our free assessment reads your pattern across temperature, moisture and tone, then matches herbs to it.
Teaching children at home? Eden's Table builds a full herbalism curriculum around plants like this one.
