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Syzygium aromaticum; photograph (c) Eric Knight, some rights reserved (CC BY) CC BY(c) Eric Knight, some rights reserved (CC BY) · observed growing wild · 2024-09-27

Syzygium aromaticum (L.) Merr. & L.M.Perry

Clove; Clovetree; Cloves

Myrtaceae · Maluku

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Syzygium aromaticum, photograph Lucq Emmanuel, CC BY-SA, via GBIFSyzygium aromaticum, photograph Mohamed Abbas, CC BY-SA, via GBIFSyzygium aromaticum, photograph Forest & Kim Starr, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia CommonsSyzygium aromaticum, photograph Forest & Kim Starr, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia CommonsSyzygium aromaticum, photograph Forest & Kim Starr, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia CommonsSyzygium aromaticum, photograph Forest & Kim Starr, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons 15 photographs ›
Habitat figuresfrom few records
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
23.9°C
Record low 22.5 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
27°C
Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Sep, Oct, Nov and Dec at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
3,046mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
31–38DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in the habitat's months, not shifted
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
Rain spread: 70% of the median year's rain takes 8 months, so no short rainy season. rain rule, CHELSA
Not shifted: the shift rule does not apply to this habitat. The chart is in the habitat's months.

From few records: 5 records in 5 grid cells. The records.

Summary

Cloves are the aromatic flower buds of a tree in the family Myrtaceae, Syzygium aromaticum. They are native to the Maluku Islands, or Moluccas, in Indonesia, and are commonly used as a spice, flavoring, or fragrance in consumer products, such as toothpaste, soaps, or cosmetics. Freshly harvested cloves are available throughout the year owing to different harvest seasons across various countries.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Clove", CC BY-SA 4.0.

About the genus · Syzygium

Syzygium is a genus of flowering plants that belongs to the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. The genus comprises about 1200 species, and has a native range that extends from Africa and Madagascar through southern Asia east through the Pacific. Its highest levels of diversity occur from Malaysia to northeastern Australia, where many species are very poorly known and many more have not been described taxonomically. More on Wikipedia ›

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Syzygium", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads no short rainy season: 70% of the median year's rain (2,282 mm of 3,130 mm) takes 8 months, December to July. Mean temperature moves 1.3 °C between the warmest and coldest month. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere. The habitat lies within 10° of the equator, where the shift rule does not apply, so they are not shifted for a collection elsewhere.

Rain

3,130 mm in the median year at the habitat, 2,282 mm of it December to July. Wettest month May at 343 mm, driest month August at 200 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 2,900 mm to 3,403 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 3,046 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 3,130 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, northern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 31 to 38 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 29, the highest 90th-percentile month 39).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 23.9 °C, the absolute minimum 22.5 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 30.7 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 24.1 °C in July and August (across the grid cells of the range 23.1 °C to 24.9 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 27.3 °C in May (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 23.9 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 68 to 71% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Temperature. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected +132 m to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Climate across the habitat

From few records: this habitat climate is read from 5 records in 5 grid cells; a page says so under 12 records or 5 cells, and shows the figures as read.

Habitat months, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Syzygium aromaticum through the yearWarmest months January, February, March, April, May, June, September, October, November and December, mean daily high 27 °C; coldest months July and August, mean nightly low 24.1 °C; 3,130 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA; the extremes at the edge from NASA POWER. Habitat months, northern hemisphere.20°25°30°35°30.7° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER22.5° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500600mm rainDLI 31–38RH 68–71%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 5 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low extremes over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, from NASA POWER, marked at the edge, in no month DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C27 / 26–2827 / 26–2827 / 26–2827 / 26–2827 / 26–2827 / 25–2726 / 25–2726 / 25–2727 / 25–2727 / 26–2827 / 26–2827 / 26–28
Night °C25 / 24–2625 / 24–2625 / 24–2625 / 24–2625 / 24–2625 / 24–2524 / 23–2524 / 23–2524 / 23–2525 / 24–2525 / 24–2525 / 24–26
Rain mm273 / 161–321229 / 134–272262 / 178–317267 / 214–312343 / 325–391337 / 285–535279 / 229–474200 / 158–318207 / 160–221215 / 139–252226 / 108–255292 / 162–328
DLI34 / 31–3535 / 33–3636 / 35–3834 / 33–3633 / 31–3431 / 29–3232 / 30–3336 / 34–3737 / 36–3838 / 37–3936 / 34–3733 / 30–34
RH %71 / 66–7470 / 66–7370 / 66–7370 / 67–7370 / 69–7370 / 68–7369 / 68–7268 / 68–7269 / 68–7269 / 67–7170 / 67–7271 / 67–74
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 5 grid cells on land that hold in-range records (5 records in those cells; 1 more cell holds records but no land by the elevation layer, so those records sit at sea and the cell is left out), with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 1783:6147 (0.825, 127.375). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 22.5 °C, 1st-percentile night 23.9 °C, 99th-percentile day 30.7 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 5 distinct grid cells holding 5 of the 6 in-range records (1 further cell with records at sea, by the elevation layer, left out); extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1783:6147 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 1.00_127.500, lapse-corrected +132 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 204 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeMaluku · introduced: Gulf of Guinea Is., Tanzania, Comoros, Madagascar, Seychelles, India, Borneo, Caroline Is., Trinidad-Tobago · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker0.567, 127.6 · in the densest population, 17 records (77% of those in range)
Kew's description“shrub or tree” · “wet tropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 22 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 5 of them in the land cells it reads, of 6 placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 17 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 35 km away. 193 records outside the WCVP native range not used. Under a dozen records behind the climate. 16 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 22 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Syzygium aromaticum, photograph 1did not loadSyzygium aromaticum, photograph 2did not loadSyzygium aromaticum, photograph 3did not loadSyzygium aromaticum, photograph 4did not loadSyzygium aromaticum, photograph 5did not loadSyzygium aromaticum, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: Lucq Emmanuel, CC BY-SA, via GBIF; Mohamed Abbas, CC BY-SA, via GBIF; Forest & Kim Starr, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (4).

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Myristica fragrans Myristica fragrans Nutmeg Photo: CC0, author not statedAverrhoa bilimbi Averrhoa bilimbi Bilimbi Photo: CC0, author not statedCanarium vulgare Canarium vulgare Java almond Photo: CC BY-SA, Ian CowieDendrobium mirbelianum Dendrobium mirbelianum Dark-stemmed Antler Orchid Photo: CC BY-SA, Thibaud AronsonDavallia heterophylla Davallia heterophylla Davalliaceae Photo: CC BY, naturewatchwidow Oberonia hamadryas Orchidaceae

Other Syzygium 85 in the reference

Syzygium acre Syzygium acre Myrtaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, didierSyzygium acuminatissimum Syzygium acuminatissimum Myrtaceae Photo: CC BY, Cheng-Te HsuSyzygium alatoramulum Syzygium alatoramulum Tinkling stainash Photo: CC BY-SA, Steve FitzgeraldSyzygium alliiligneum Syzygium alliiligneum Mission Beach satinash Photo: CC BY-SA, Evert MatermanSyzygium angophoroides Syzygium angophoroides Swamp Satinash Photo: CC BY, Roland MuenchSyzygium anisatum Syzygium anisatum Anise myrtle Photo: CC BY-SA, Lachlan CopelandSyzygium antisepticum Syzygium antisepticum Myrtaceae Photo: CC BY, luluchouetteSyzygium apodophyllum Syzygium apodophyllum Rex Satinash Photo: CC BY-SA, Evert MatermanSyzygium aqueum Syzygium aqueum Watery rose apple Photo: CC BY, T R Shankar Raman Syzygium armstrongii Small White Bush Apple Syzygium australe Syzygium australe Australian brush-cherry Photo: CC BY, Dave RichardsonSyzygium boonjee Syzygium boonjee Myrtaceae Photo: CC BY, Wairambar Rainforest all 86 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Caryophyllus aromaticus; Caryophyllus hortensis; Caryophyllus silvestris; Eugenia aromatica; Eugenia caryophyllata and 3 more. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Myrtaceae
Described by
(L.) Merr. & L.M.Perry
Native to
Maluku
Wild records
22 in range · 17 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-22
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-22names fetched 2026-10-22
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 28 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (20 at a botanic garden or arboretum, 4 at a herbarium, 4 at a zoo; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 1.00_127.500, lapse-corrected +132 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22Wikipedia's article Clove, the English article of this species' Wikidata item (Q26736)
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild answeredasked 2026-10-22from iNaturalist's open data of 2026-09-27: research-grade observations with an open-licence photograph, the 24 whose photographs iNaturalist received last (the open data holds no votes); filled 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-22
Wikimedia Commons commons answeredasked 2026-10-22
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 60 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

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