Clove trees were found in the islands of Indonesia (the Maluku Islands) thousands of years ago. Besides being used to improve the taste of food and drink, their dried flower buds have also been used to make many kinds of medicine. The name of the clove appears many times in Chinese texts from between 206 BC and AD 220.
Number of species
About 1,200 species belong to the genus Syzygium, but only one produces cloves. Since ancient times cloves have been used as a spice, as medicine and more.
Height
Trees grown in plantations reach up to eight metres; those growing in the wild, outside plantations, grow even taller.
Season
Cloves are harvested twice a year, in spring and in autumn. The clove tree is green in all four seasons.
Written by Weysî Silêman Elî · Last updated 18 October 2026
