Clove Leaf Essential Oil: Uses, Benefits, and Blends
Scientific Name: Syzygium Aromaticum L
Origin: Indonesia
Plant Part: Leaves
Scent: Spicy, Woody
Color: Clear to very pale green
Consistency: Thin
Perfumery Note: Top
Initial Aroma Strength: Medium
Extraction Method: Steam Distillation
Suitable Blending Oils: Herbaceous scents like chamomile, hyssop, dill, conifer notes, other spices like Cinnamon, and nutmeg, citruses like grapefruit, lemon, or lime, resins like myrrh and galbanum.
Breaking Down the Clove Leaf Essential Oil’s Chemical Components
- Eugenol: 85.6%
- Beta caryophyllene: 10.05%
- Humelene: 2.15%
Understanding Clove Leaf Essential Oil
Clove leaf Essential Oil is a potent and aromatic oil derived from the leaves of the Syzygium Aromaticum tree, more commonly known as the clove tree.
There are three main types of clove Essential Oils: clove bud oil (which is what people mean when they say clove oil), clove leaf oil, and clove stem oil.
Clove bud oil is extracted from the flower buds of the clove tree and is the most commonly used and widely available type. Clove bud Essential Oil is high in eugenol. This constituent is renowned for its analgesic and anti-inflammatory effects and is an effective remedy to ease various types of pain and reduce swelling. Eugenol also has tremendous antimicrobial abilities.
Clove leaf Essential Oil, also high in eugenol, possesses these same strong antimicrobial properties. This makes it a popular choice for treating infections and promoting overall oral health.
Additionally, its stimulating and invigorating aroma uplifts the mood and improves mental clarity. Whether used in aromatherapy, massage, or personal care products, clove leaf Essential Oil offers a plethora of benefits that make it a valuable addition to any natural wellness routine. However, due to its potency, it should be used with caution and in proper dilution to avoid skin irritation.
What’s The Difference Between Clove Bud And Clove Leaf Oil
The classic answer to this would be that they are taken from different parts of the tree and that you can use clove leaf Essential Oil on the skin because it is milder due to its lower levels of Eugenol.
However, take a look at our two oils. The levels are surprisingly similar.
Chemistry of Vinevida Clove Leaf Essential Oil
- Eugenol: 85.6
- Beta caryophyllene: 10.05
- Humelene: 2.15 (Based on the batches on sale July 2023)
Chemistry Vinevida Clove Bud Essential Oil
- Eugenol: 80.1%
- Beta Caryophyllene: 6.15
- Eugenyl acetate: 9.29
- Humulene: 0.78 (Based on the batches on sale July 2023)
The chemistry of Essential Oils changes from season to season, based on the rigors the plant has gone through in its lifetime in terms of sun, rainfall, plagues of insects etc. But then how they are distilled may also affect chemistry.
How long were they distilled for?
Were the leaves dried before they were distilled?
If they were dried, how long were they dried for?
How hot was the still?
How slowly was the Essential Oil distilled?
There could be any number of reasons why the chemistry of our clove bud and clove leaf Essential Oils might be almost identical this year.
There is very little to choose between them, then, except that oddly they smell really quite different.
The Clove bud essential has quite a floral scent whereas clove leaf Essential Oil is much greener and herbaceous.
Further, both clove bud and clove leaf Essential Oils are safe to use topically providing you remain below the maximum dilution (which is 0.6% for clove leaf oil). (Tisserand and Young, 2013)
What is Clove Leaf Essential Oil Used For?
Not surprisingly, since clove oil has always been associated with toothache, clove leaf Essential Oil is used for natural perfumery and oral hygiene products.
However, the subtleties of what clove leaf Essential Oil can do are far more wide-reaching.
Let’s begin with eugenol, a master antibacterial and pain reliever.
Pain
Eugenol has powerful pain-killing effects, especially for acute pain, which is why clove oil is so useful for toothache.
There are two ways that Eugenol reduces pain signals.
When you take an anti-inflammatory painkiller like ibuprofen, it reduces pain through a pathway called COX2. It also acts upon a set of messaging nerves called TRP channels. (Takahashi, 2021)
Trans Receptor Proteins (TRP) tell our brains about the environment.
Specifically, they deliver pain messages about temperature and pressure.
You may recall how cloves are warming…this is translated via the TRP channels. We could call TRPV1 the spiciness receptor. Capsaicin in chilies also activates this receptor to make us hot, sweat, and ultimately reduce pain.
In Clove leaf Essential Oil, eugenol is supported by beta-caryophyllene which also has analgesic properties.
Beta-caryophyllene is an agonist for the CB2 receptor responsible for modulating pain, inflammation, and immunity.
However, it should be noted, that the 10% beta-caryophyllene is a relatively small amount when you compare it to Essential Oils like copaiba and black pepper. These would make great ideas of oils to blend with to leverage that analgesic/anti-inflammatory action if you were making a massage oil for example.
Again though, there is so little to choose between the clove bud and clove leaf Essential Oil in terms of their actions, So preference here really comes down to fragrance. Is your blend mainly made up of herbaceous or conifer notes? Then choose clove leaf Essential Oil. If it is more floral or woody, then clove bud is going to work better.
Likewise, the energetics will be slightly different. Massage oils with clove bud Essential Oil will feel romantic, warming, and comforting. Those made with clove leaves are more likely to be refreshing, invigorating, and cleansing.
Anti- Microbial
In clinical trials, Eugenol has demonstrated antimicrobial abilities against many strains of bacteria.
Staphylococcus Aureus (Beloin, 2015)
Staphylococcus aureus is a Gram-positive member of the Bacillota bacteria. It is one of the main reasons wounds go septic and become abscesses. It is also involved in cellulitis infections.
We all have at least some levels of Staphylococcus aureus in our respiratory tracts and on the skin. But, if the levels become inflated it can cause serious disease threats to soft tissues and run risks of pneumonia.
In vitro experiments show the efficacy of eugenol against microfilms of staph aureus. (Beloin, 2015)
Pseudomonas Aeruginosa
Another hospital-based germ that can cause sepsis is Pseudomonas Aeruginosa which affects the lungs and urinary tract.
This gram-negative, antibiotic-resistant bacteria is a highly advanced gram-negative bacteria that thrives on catheters and medical instruments and is now antibiotic-resistant,
However, Eugenol is demonstrated as being able to stop it being able to spread (in petri dish experiments) by suppressing the bacteria's genes.
Further eugenol has been demonstrated to be active against Klebsiella pneumoniae which is responsible for similar kinds of outbreaks as well as meningitis.
E. Coli
Clove leaf Essential Oil makes a great kitchen surface cleaning agent too. It especially blends well with “clean smelling oils” such as pine.
Eugenol has proven activity against Ecoli which naturally lives in our guts, but can cause food poisoning if it gets onto foods.
- coli infection is responsible for around 265,000 illnesses in the United States annually, and tragically, around 100 deaths each year.
In vitro tests show that Eugenol inhibits e-coli (Pei, 2009) as well as inhibiting the spread of listeria. (Balasubramanian, 2022)
Feline calicivirus is an animal version of the human sickness and diarrhea pathogen norovirus. Washing fruit with Clove Essential Oil cleansed it of the pathogen, potentially offering a way to protect against illness transmission through foods.
We should state how wonderful cloves and Essential Oils are for all digestive issues.
Eugenol and Viruses
Eugenol also has magnificent antiviral and virucidal abilities.
The terms "antiviral" and "virucidal" refer to different approaches to dealing with viruses.
Antiviral agents are substances or medications that inhibit the replication and growth of viruses within the body, helping to slow down or stop the progression of viral infections. These agents work by targeting specific steps in the viral life cycle or by boosting the body's immune response to combat the virus.
On the other hand, "virucidal" refers to the ability to directly destroy or inactivate viruses, rendering them non-infectious. Virucidal agents are often used for disinfection purposes, such as on surfaces or in cleaning products, to prevent the spread of viruses. While antiviral agents focus on stopping viral replication within the body, virucidal agents aim to exterminate the virus outside of the host.
Not every infection is caused by a virus, but common ones that are include colds, flu, coughs, bronchitis, chickenpox, and of course, the one that recently caused the pandemic.
Influenza
A study done in Canada, in 2014 studied the effects of vapors from different Essential Oils on the flu virus.
Eugenol killed 100% of the virus in the allotted 10 minutes. (Vimalanathan, 2014)
Again though, to be clear, this was in a petri dish. There still needs to be more evidence to say it can do the same within the human constitution.
Herpes Simplex Virus
The Herpes Virus quickly becomes antibiotic-resistant making it notoriously difficult to treat.
To further complicate things, there are two different strains.
The herpes simplex virus (HSV) is a common and contagious virus that comes in two types: HSV-1 and HSV-2. It causes a range of infections, including oral herpes (cold sores) and genital herpes. HSV can remain dormant in nerve cells and reactivate periodically, leading to recurrent outbreaks. There is no cure, but antiviral medications can help manage symptoms.
Both strains of HSV are vulnerable to eugenol. (Benencia, 2000)
It is also virucidal, preventing the enveloping of the virus in both in vitro and in vivo experiments. (Benencia, 2000)
Eugenol limits infection of HSV and prevents it from spreading through the body.
Sars-Cov-2
There is a hope that Eugenol could be developed as a therapeutic for COVID-19.
Eugenol targets genes the virus uses to access our bodies.
The ACE2 enzyme, angiotensin-converting enzyme 2, is a protein found on the surface of cells in various organs. These organs include the lungs, heart, and intestines. The enzyme plays a vital role in the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system which regulates blood pressure and fluid balance.
SARS-CoV-2 binds to the ACE2 enzyme by using a spike in the virus protein known as S1. (Lai, 2022)
Spike S1 binds to ACE2 as a means of entering the cell to initiate COVID-19. (Paidi, 2021)
Eugenol suppresses S1 on the virus which means it no longer possesses the key to get into the cells.
Further, mice trials suggest that Eugenol inhibits the release of several inflammatory markers important to the COVID-19 infection.
Eugenol decreases fever, reduces inflammation in the lungs, and improves heart function. (Paidi, 2021)
To stress, in this trial eugenol was given orally to mice. That is not the same as using it topically on humans. These data can only give us clues as to what might happen. To date, there is no proof that Eugenol provides blanket protection against any bacteria or virus, including COVID-19.
HIV
Eugenol is also being investigated as a potential future therapeutic for HIV. Eugenol seems to prevent the spread of infected lymphocytes around the body in infections of HIV. (Aboubakr, 2010)
Antifungal
Eugenol possesses antifungal activity against various strains in vitro.
These include Candida Albicans, responsible for oral and vaginal thrush, & Trichophyton Mentagrophytes & Trichophyton Rubrum which cause ringworm and athlete's foot.
Is Clove Leaf Essential Oil Safe To Use?
It is, but it does require careful handling.
Maximum dilution is 0.6%.
Clove leaf Essential Oil is not suitable for use in children under the age of 2.
Tisserand & Young warn of possible interactions of clove leaf Essential Oil with certain antidepressant medications. These are monoamine inhibitors and SSRIs. However, this is only if the clove leaf Essential Oil is taken orally which we do not recommend. That said, it is worth bearing this in mind if you are taking any of these medications, just to observe the effects on mood even if you are using clove leaf Essential Oil topically.
We do not envisage any problems.
Eugenol thins the blood, so avoid clove leaf Essential Oils if you are taking anticoagulant medications or have any kind of platelet disorder. Likewise discontinue use 48 hours before planned surgeries, which also includes tooth extraction.
We do not recommend using clove leaf Essential Oil in the bath.
Clove Leaf Essential Oil Uses: For Wholesale Purposes
Aromatherapy
Harness the comforting essence of Clove Leaf Essential Oil in aromatherapy. Embrace its warm, spicy aroma for relaxation and rejuvenation
Soapmaking
Not really appropriate.
Natural Perfumery
Gorgeous for green blends, and tropical and summery fragrances.
Clove Leaf Essential Oil Blends: DIY Recipes
Clove Leaf Essential Oil Blend For Aching Muscles
- 9ml Grapeseed Carrier Oil (Vitis Vinifera)
- 1 drop Clove Leaf Essential Oil (Syzygium Aromaticum L)
- 2 drops Juniper Essential Oil (Juniperus Communis)
- 5 drop Lavender Essential Oil ( Lavandula Angustifolia)
Method of Preparation: Add the Essential Oils to the Grapeseed carrier oil and combine well.
Method of use: Massage with some vigor into aching muscles.
Apply up to three times a day.
Safety: Not suitable for use in the first 16 weeks of pregnancy.
Do a skin test 24 hours before using over a large area.
Clove Leaf Essential Oil Blend For Colds and Flu
- 9ml Grapeseed Carrier Oil (Vitis Vinifera)
- 1 drop Clove Leaf Essential Oil (Syzygium Aromaticum L)
- 5 drops Tea Tree Essential Oil (Melaleuca Alternifolia)
- 3 drops Oregano Essential Oil (Origanum Compactum Benth)
Method of Preparation: Add the Essential Oils to the Grapeseed carrier oil and combine well.
Method of use: Massage over the throat, chest and back
Apply up to three times a day.
Safety: Not suitable for use during pregnancy.
Do a skin test 24 hours before using over a large area.
Clove Leaf Essential Oil Blend For Herpes Simplex Virus
- 9ml Grapeseed Carrier Oil (Vitis Vinifera)
- 1 drop Clove Leaf Essential Oil (Syzygium Aromaticum L)
- 5 drops Melissa Essential Oil (Melissa Officinalis)
- 3 drops Roman Chamomile Essential Oil (Anthemis nobilis L)
Method of Preparation: Add the Essential Oils to the Grapeseed carrier oil and combine well.
Method of use: Apply to the affected area and rub in gently.
Apply up to three times a day.
Safety: Not suitable for use in the first 16 weeks of pregnancy.
Do a skin test 24 hours before using over a large area.
Why Choose VINEVIDA
At VINEVIDA, we love botanicals and the planet they come from. We believe in stocking the best at affordable prices and supplying to the discerning, which is why we are also members of both the Alliance of International Aromatherapists and the National Association of Holistic Aromatherapy. In recognition of our excellent standard of product, we are proud to hold a 2021 Certificate of Registration as a Cosmetic Products Establishment with the U.S. Drugs and Food Administration.
Our joy at seeing people make beautiful things means we stock from the smallest amounts to the largest. Our bulk Essential Oils’ prices begin with our smallest Essential Oil of 10ml to our largest of 396lb, meaning any manufacturing company can afford to stock as many or as few oils as their business can accommodate without running the risk of spoilage of some of nature’s most precious commodities. So why not see if you can save money by buying your Clove Leaf Essential Oil in bulk? Remember how stable it is proven to be, so as long as you store it carefully, it should last and last.
Don’t forget too; we like to look after our customers with reasonable prices and excellent customer service and reward the loyal ones with money-off discounts over the year.
Conclusion
So, why not check out if you qualify for our loyalty scheme and start saving today with an environmentally friendly choice of oil for skin, hair, massage oils, and soap making? Add VINEVIDA Clove Leaf Essential Oil to your cart today.
Safety Data Sheet
