PIMENTO, also called Allspice (from a supposed combination of various flavours) and Jamaica Pepper, is the dried immature fruit of Eugenia Pimenta or Pimenta officinalis, an evergreen tree about 30 feet high belonging to the natural order Myrtaceae. It is indigenous*in the West India Islands, growing on limestone hills *n ear the sea. The spice derives its name from pimienta, the Spanish word for pepper, which was given to it by the early explorers of the New World from its resemblance to peppercorns. The allspice of commerce is furnished wholly by the island of Jamaica; and all attempts to cultivate the tree where it is not found growing spontaneously have hitherto failed. The so-called pimento walks or natural plantations from which the pimento is collected are formed by cutting down other growth upon land where the tree grows naturally, and thus allowing it to multiply freely. The berries are gathered in July and August, when of full size, but still unripe,—the small branches bearing fruit being broken off and dried in the sun and air for some days, when the stalks are removed and the berries are ready for packing. These owe their aromatic properties to an essential oil, of which they yield on distillation from 3 to 4∣ per cent. This oil has a specific gravity of 1Ό37, deflects the ray of polarized light 2° to the left when examined in a column of 50 millimetres, and has substantially the same composition as oil of cloves, although differing in flavour. The berries also contain a tannin (giving a black colour with ferric salts), starch, and a minute quantity of an alkaloid which, according to Dragendorff, has somewhat the odour of conia. The chief use of pimento is as a spice. The oil and distilled water are used to a limited extent in medicine to disguise the ...