This section is from the book "Materia Medica Pharmacy, Pharmacology And Therapeutics", by W. Hale White. Also available from Amazon: Materia Medica Pharmacy, Pharmacology And Therapeutics..
Pimenta. - Synonym. - Allspice. The nearly ripe fruit of Pimenta officinalis Lindley (nat. ord. Myrtaceae).
Tropical America; cultivated.
About 5 mm. in diameter, nearly globular, crowned with the short, four-parted calyx or its remnants, and a short style; brownish or brownish gray, granular and glandular, two-celled; each cell containing one brown plano-convex, roundish-reniform seed; odor and taste pungently aromatic, clove-like. Resembling Pimenta. - Pepper, which has no calyx; Cubeb, which is stalked.
The chief ingredient is Oleum Pimentae (see below), which is chemically almost identical with the volatile oil found in cloves.
Dose, 5 to 30 gr.; .30 to 2.00 gm.
Synonym. - Oil of Allspice. A volatile oil distilled from Pimenta.
A colorless or pale yellow liquid, having a strong, aromatic, Clove like odor, and a pungent, spicy taste. It becomes darker and thicker by age and exposure to the air. Sp. gr., 1.045 to 1.055.
With an equal volume of Alcohol it forms a clear solution.
1) Eugenol, 70 per cent. (2) A sesquiterpene.
Oil of Pimenta is used in Spiritus Myrciae.
Dose, 1 to 5 m.; .06 to .30 c.c.
The action and uses of pimenta and its oil are precisely the same as those of cloves and oil of cloves.
 
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