Pimenta racemosa

Bayrón is the bay rum tree: its leaves, distilled in rum, give the famous aromatic lotion of the Caribbean, used for generations on sore muscles. Leaves, berries and bark are all highly aromatic, with notes of clove, cinnamon and nutmeg. It's a cousin of allspice and an elegant tree with a dense, columnar, dark green crown, also planted as an ornamental and for shade.

Native to the Caribbean, it grows in the tropical lowlands up to about 750 meters, at 22–28 °C with well-distributed rainfall. It prefers sun and well-drained soil, ideally deep, fertile and slightly acid, though it adapts to marginal soils on slopes. Protect young plants from direct sun until they are established. In the wild it reaches 15 meters, but in cultivation it's topped at 3–5 meters after 2–3 years to keep the leaves within reach; it resprouts very well after pruning. Planting distance: 2–3 m.

The leaves are used as a spice in cooking, much like bay leaf, and make an aromatic tea. The dried green berries have a spicy flavor with hints of cinnamon, clove and nutmeg.

Bay rum, the leaves distilled in rum, is used in folk medicine for sore muscles, strains and sprains. Leaf tea is drunk as a stimulant and for gas, colds and fever. The leaf essential oil, rich in antibacterial phenols, is used for stomach pain and on the skin; it's very concentrated, so always use it diluted.

A climax tree of the medium stratum that gives leaf harvests for decades. Since it resprouts well after pruning, it can be kept low, at harvesting height, and every pruning returns aromatic biomass to the soil.