Clove Bud

Clove Bud

syzygium aromaticum

Clove Bud has an impressive range of action against pathogens and illnesses. Many of the plagues that scourged Europe were started by fleas carried by rats that came ashore from ships bringing spices from the East. So cloves have a share in the responsibility for plagues. With poetic justice, they were also used as a prophylactic against bubonic plague. Sponges impregnated with extract of cloves were often held beneath the noses of plague victims.^*

There is some modern evidence that suggests cloves might have had some real medical value; one researcher has reported that oil of cloves kills the bacillus that causes typhoid. Clove Bud is a remarkable uterine tonic; it helps tone the uterine muscles and thus prepares the mother for an easy birth physically, but also psychically since it lessens anxiety about the delivery.^*