Flowers

FLOWERS
CLOVE
SAFFRON
PYRETHRUM
CLOVE
Synonyms
• Caryophyllum
• Clove buds
• Clove flower
• Lavang
Biological source
It consists of a dried flower bud of Eugenia caryophyllus
Family :-Myrtaceae
Geographical source:
Clove tree is a native of Mollucca Island (present in indonesia). At present
clove is mainly cultivated in Island of Zanzibar Pemba Amboiana and
Sumatra. It is also found in Madagascar, Penang, Mauritius, West Indies,
Ceylon.
Cultivation and collection:
 Deep rich loamy soil with high humus content is suitable for clove cultivation.
 It is also found growing favorable in open sandy loam and laterite soils of
south kerala region.
 Water logging of soil must be avoided.
 It needs warm humid climate and grow well in in the vicinity of sea.The annual
rainfall in the range of 150-250cm is another requirement for the cultivation of
clove.
 It is propagated by seed germination .The seedlings of clove are slender and
delicate, with poor growing rate.
 After six months, they are tranplanted to pots where they are allowed to grow
for a year.
 Thereafter, they are again transferred to the field and are provided with the
shade in initial stage of growth.
 The flower buds are collected when the lower part turns from green to
crimpson. Collection is done twice a year between August and December.
 The collected cloves are dried in the open air on mats and separated from their
peduncles which constitute “clove stalks”.
 If the cloves are left without collection, the buds open and the petals fall and
are called “blown cloves” and later fruits known as mother cloves are produced
 Cloves are imported in bales covered with matting made from the strips of
coconut leaves.
 Clove can also be grown with arecanut, coconut or nutmeg plants.
Macroscopical characters:
Colour:- Crimpson to Dark Brown
Odour:-Aromatic, Strong Spicy
Taste:-Aromatic, Pungent, Bitter and Spicy
Size:-Length (12-17mm), Diameter (3-4mm)
Shape: The stalk of the clove consists of a cylindrical hypanthium above

which is a bilocular ovary containing numerous ovules attached to axile
placentae. The head consists of four slightly projecting calyx, four membran
ous petals, and numerous incurved stamens around a large style.
Microscopical characters:
Transverse section of clove hypanthium below the ovary:
Epidermis: Single layered small cells with straight walls and has a
very thick cuticle. Epidermal layer gets intercepted by Ranunculaceous
type of stomata.
2. Cortex: Can be divided into three distinct zones or regions
(a) The peripheral region containing 2 to 3 layers of big, ellipsoidal,
schizo-lysigenous oil glands embedded in the radially elongated
parenchymatous cells.
(b) The middle region containing 1 or 2 rings of bicollateral vascular
bundles associated with a few pericyclic fibres, embedded in thick
walled parenchyma.
(c) The inner region made of loosely arranged aerenchyma.
3. Columella: Forms the central cylinder containing thick walled
parenchyma with a ring of bicollateral vascular bundles towards the
periphery of the cylinder. Numerous sphaeraphides are seen scattered
throughout the columella and to a certain extent in the middle cortical
zone
Transverse section of clove hypanthium in the region of the ovary:
Hypanthium in this region shows epidermis, oil gland layer
and a ring of bicollateral vascular bundles. Within this is a zone of
cells with very strongly thickened cellulose walls, limited internally
by an inner epidermis forming the wall of the ovary. The dissepiment
of the ovary is parenchymatous . Placentae are rich in cluster crytals
and contain vascular bundles.
Chemical constituents:
Clove consist of about:
Volatile oil (15-20%) - Eugenol (70-90%) , Acetyl Eugenol, α,β- Caryopyllene , Tannins and
other substances mainly methyl furfural and dimethyl furfural.
Identification tests:
1. Dissolve a drop of clove oil in 5ml of alcohol and add a drop of ferric chloride solution.
blue colour is seen because of phenolic OH group of Eugenol
2. Take a powder of clove and add sudan III red colour is formed.
3. Treat a thick section of clove’s hypanthium with 50% potassium hydroxide solution.
needle shape crystals of potassium eugenate are seen.
4. Prepare a decoction of clove and add to it ferric chloride solution. Blue-black colour is
formed because of the tannin.
Uses:
Cloves are used as an agreeable aromatic stimulant, antispasmodic, and carminative.
It is used as a dental analgesic.
Adulterants :
Exhausted clove: Volatile oil is partly or completely removed as a result buds appear dar
ker in color, shrunken in form and yields no oil.
Mother cloves (anthophylli) are the ripe fruits of cloves that are ovoid, brown berries,
unilocular and one-seeded. This can be detected by the presence of much starch in the
seeds. They also contain volatile oil but only about 3-5%.
Blown cloves are expanded flowers from which both corolla and stamens have been deta
ched.
Clove stalks are slender stems of the inflorescence axis that show opposite decussate bra
nching. Externally, they are brownish, rough, and irregularly wrinkled longitudinally
with short fracture and dry, woody texture.
SAFFRON
Synonyms:
Crocus, Spanish saffron, French saffron.
Biological source:
Saffron is dried stigma and style tops of
Crocus sativus Linn.
Family:
Iridaceae.
Geographical source:
It is found in France, Italy, Persia, Australia, China, Germany, Switzerland, Iran
and India (Kashmir).
Cultivation and Collection:
Saffron thrives well in cold regions with warm or subtropical climate. It requires a
rich, well-drained, sandy or loamy soil. The plant is propagated by corms. Corms
are planted in July or august, the first flowering takes place in September or
October of the following year, after which each corm is replaces itself by one or
more daughter corms. After three harvests of flowers, the corms are dug up in
May or June. The best of these are reserved for planting in fresh ground in July or
August. The flowers are gathered in the early morning, placed in baskets and
conveyed to the picking house. The picker takes each flower and separates the
Styles and stigmas and they are dried in the sun or over low heat on sieves in
earthen pots.
i. Colour: Reddish- brown with some yellowish pieces of tops styles.
ii. Odour: Strong peculiar and aromatic
iii. Taste: Aromatic and bitter.
Microscopical characters
If the soaked drug is examined under a lens or microscope, the stigmas will
be found either separate or united in three to the apex of yellowish styles.
Each stigma is about 25-mm long and has the shape of a slender funnel, the
rim of which is dentate or fimbricate
Chemical constituents:
1. It contains number of carotenoids coloured compounds such as ester of
crocin (colour glycoside), picrocrocin (colourless bitter glycoside), crocetin,
gentiobiose, α and γ -carotene, crocin-II, lycopenea and zeaxanthin and
safranal.
2. It contains volatile oil, fixed oil and wax, etc.
Uses:
1. It is used in fever, cold, melancholia and enlargement of liver.
2. It is used as colouring agent and flavouring agents.
3. It is used in catarrhal, snake bite, cosmetic and pharmaceutical preparation and spices.
4. It has stimulant, stomachic, tonic, aphrodisiac, sedative and Spasmolytic .

Pyrethrum
Synonyms:
Insect flower, Dalmatian insect flower
Source:
It consists of the dried flower heads of Chrysanthemum cinerarifolium
Belonging to the family Compositae.
Geographical source :
Kenya, Tasmania, Tanzania, Japan, Yugoslavia, Brazil, India.
Cultivation and collection:
Pyrethrum grows well at an altitude of 1900-2700 mtrs and an annual rainfall of 76-
180 cm and temperature between 15-25 ֯ C. Cultivation is done by sowing seeds and
vegitative propagation which is preferred is done by planting splits in well prepared
soil. Plants reach maturity within four months. The flowers are hand picked and dried
immediately to avoid loss of pyrethrin content.
Colour: Cream to straw coloured.
Odour: Characteristic, aromatic
Taste: Bitter followed by numbness
Size: 10-15mm in diameter
Shape: Flower head is flat with convex receptacle, peduncle is short and longitudinally
striated. Involucre of three yellowish green bracts and Ray florets are 15-23 in number.
Disc florets are 200-300, each with 5 lobed yellow coloured tubular corolla.
Chemical constituents: The insecticidal principles of pyrethrum are located in the oleo
resin secretion of floral parts of partially open or closed flowers. It consists of pyrethrum
esters pyrethrin –I, pyrethrin –II, Cinerin- I, Cinerin- II, Jasmoline-I, Jasmoline-II and
Pyrethrosin, pyrethrol and sesquiterpene lactones.
Pyrethrin-I Pyrethrin-II
Pyrethrum esters
Ester Alcohol part Acid part
Pyrethrin-I Keto alcohol Pyrethrolone Chrysanthemum mono carboxylic acid
Pyrethrin-II Keto alcohol Pyrethrolone Monomethyl ester of chrysanthemum
dicarboxylic acid
Cinerin- I Keto alcohol Cinerolone Chrysanthemum mono carboxylic acid
Cinerin- II Keto alcohol Cinerolone Monomethyl ester of chrysanthemum
dicarboxylic acid
Jasmoline –I Jasmolone Chrysanthemum mono carboxylic acid
Jasmoline-II Jasmolone Monomethyl ester of chrysanthemum
dicarboxylic acid
Uses: It is used as a contact poison and as an insecticide. It shows rapid

toxicity towards different pests but has very low toxicity in mammals.
Synthetic derivatives:
S-bioallethrin and resmethrin
Other varieties:
Chrysanthemum coccineum, C.marshalli

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FLOWERS

Odour:-Aromatic, Strong Spicy

Taste:-Aromatic, Pungent, Bitter and Spicy

Size:-Length (12-17mm), Diameter (3-4mm)

Shape: The stalk of the clove consists of a cylindrical hypanthium above

2. It is used as colouring agent and flavouring agents.

4. It has stimulant, stomachic, tonic, aphrodisiac, sedative and Spasmolytic .

Uses: It is used as a contact poison and as an insecticide. It shows rapid

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