ALLSPICE, the dried unripe berry of the pimento or allspice tree (Eugenia pimenta or Pimenta officinalis) of the myrtle family. The tree, which attains a height of 4oft., is native to Central America and to the West Indies where it is also cultivated. This highly aromatic spice, widely used in cookery and in medicine, is supposed to combine the flavour of cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves, whence its name. The name is applied also to other aromatic shrubs, especially to the Carolina allspice (Calycanthus floridus), a handsome flowering shrub, native to the south-eastern United States and often cultivated in England; to the Japanese allspice (Chimonanthus fragans or Meratia praecox), native to Eastern Asia and planted f or ornament in England and the United States; and to the wild allspice or spicebush (Benzoin aestivale), a laura ceous shrub of eastern North America, with aromatic berries, reputed to have been used as a substitute for spice.