Which plant produces the spice cloves from its unopened flower buds?

Syzygium aromaticum produces the spice cloves from its unopened flower buds.

Syzygium aromaticum is an evergreen tree in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. It is native to the Maluku Islands of Indonesia, historically known in Europe as the Spice Islands. Cloves are harvested as immature flower buds before they open, then dried until they become the familiar hard, brown spice.

The buds contain aromatic oil rich in eugenol, which gives cloves their strong fragrance and warm, pungent flavor. Eugenol also has antiseptic and local anesthetic properties, helping explain the traditional use of clove oil in dental preparations. In cooking, cloves flavor both sweet and savory dishes and are used in spice blends around the world.

Cloves are not seeds, berries, or tree bark. This distinguishes them from nutmeg, which comes from Myristica fragrans seeds, and cinnamon, which comes from the bark of Cinnamomum species. The tree was formerly known as Eugenia caryophyllata.