Medicinal Herb InfoA reference archive of plants and their traditions
Not medical advice. This site documents how plants have been described and used historically. It is a botanical and folklore reference, not guidance for treating illness, and it carries no dosing instructions. Talk to a doctor or pharmacist before using any plant medicinally — herbs interact with medication and some are toxic.

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Allspice

Botanical reference entry

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Parts Usually Used

Fruit

Description of Plant(s) and Culture

Allspice Berries Allspice is the dried berry of the pimento, an evergreen tree growing to 40 feet in height; it bears opposite, leathery, oblong to oblong-lanceolate leaves whose pinnately arranged veins show prominently on the underside. Small white flowers grow in many-flowered cymes in the upper leaf axils from June to August. The fruit is a fleshy, sweet berry which is purplish-black when ripe.

The berries used for allspice are collected when they have reached full size but are not yet ripe. The name comes from the berry’s taste, which has been described as a combination of cloves, Juniper berries, cinnamon, and pepper.

Where Found

Grows in the West Indies, South America, Central America, and Mexico.

Medicinal Properties

Aromatic, carminative, stimulant

Legends, Myths and Stories

Ground Allspice Allspice tastes like a blend of cloves, cinnamon, and nutmeg, but is actually a single spice ground from the under-ripe dried berry of a tropical, evergreen myrtle tree, native to the West Indies and Central America. ”

Uses

Historically, herbalists administered pimento water and oil of pimento for flatulence and flatulent indigestion. The oil was also combined with laxatives in traditional practice to reduce digestive griping. In external applications, allspice was prepared as an ointment or added to baths, where folk traditions attributed mild anesthetic qualities to it and employed it for rheumatism and neuralgia.

Bibliography

The Herb Book , by John Lust, Bantam Books, 666 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY. copyright 1974. The Herbalist Almanac , by Clarence Meyer, Meyerbooks, publisher, PO Box 427, Glenwood, Illinois 60425, copyright 1988, fifth printing, 1994 Eastern/Central Medicinal Plants , by Steven Foster and James A. , Lotus Press, PO Box 325, Twin Lakes. , 15 Columbus Circle, New York, NY 10023 Old Ways Rediscovered , by Clarence Meyer, Meyerbooks, publisher, PO Box 427, Glenwood, Illinois 60425, published from 1954, print 1988 The Rodale Herb Book: How to Use, Grow, and Buy Nature’s Miracle Plants (An Organic gardening and farming book) , edited by William H.

Hylton, Rodale Press, Inc. , 1974