Allspice

Allspice, or Pimento, the dry berry of Pimenta officinalis, Lindl. (Myrtus Pimenta, or Eugenia Pimenta), a West Indian evergreen tree belonging to the Myrtle family. Great Britain imports about 2,000 tons annually of these berries from Jamaica, whence she derives her sole supply. They yield on distillation about 4 per cent. of a pungent aromatic oil, resembling oil of cloves. From an allied species, P. acris, oil of bay, or bay-berry oil, used in the United States in the manufacture of bay rum, is obtained.