The plants are usually grown from seed, then set about 30 feet apart in the grove. Each pale yellow floret consists of a cylindrical thick ovary, one-quarter inch long. The flower opens early in the morning. The united petals separate from the base as a cap, similar to the grape blossom, which is pushed off by the extending stamens. There are two flowering seasons a year, July to October and November to January.
Few flowers develop into fruit.
The fruit, called mother of cloves, contains one seed or rarely two seeds. He concluded that cross-pollination was necessary for seed production. He also concluded that, since vegetative propagation had never been accomplished, pollination from the breeding standpoint becomes important. No attempt is made to utilize insect pollination in the production of clove planting seed. The need for sufficient pollinating insects to produce the small amount of seed required to plant 1,000 acres of cloves is probably not acute.