8 myristicej:. 



the middle ; exterior petals yellow, and variegated with purple spots, interior half as long, 

 tomentose-ciliated, whitish externally. — Hab. Formerly introduced into Jamaica, the speci- 

 mens in the Hookerian Herbarium, dating from 1830, but now perhaps extinct. Mr. March 

 states, in a letter, that the two trees recorded in Macfadyen's Flora, have been lost, but that 

 it may be found still at the old Botanic Garden, S. Andrew's, where it was at one time known 

 to exist. — It. Brown was of the opinion that the Calabash Nutmeg might have been intro- 

 duced by the Negroes from the west coast of Africa, and Sir W. Hooker led me to inquire 

 whether the Xylopia undidata of Palisot de Beauvois' ' Flore d'Oware ' {Habzelia, A. DC.) 

 was not the same plant. This, upon R. Brown's supposition that by mistake the misplaced 

 fruit of another Anonacea (namely the Habzelia athiopica) was confouuded with it, and 

 figured as its product, would be a correct view of the matter, the remarkable undulate outer, 

 and cordate inner petals being the same ; and Richard, who has examined Beauvois' flower 

 again (Fl. Cub. 1. p. 54) having found in it apparently a single pistil. I had no opportunity 

 of examining the African plant myself, but it appears that the above supposition can be sup- 

 posed, or rather, proved, by the text of the ' Flore d'Oware ' itself. The author states that 

 he observed the fruits in the markets of the Guinea coast, and that afterwards he found the 

 tree flowering and bearing fruits of a former year, when he travelled in the interior of 

 Oware, seventy or eighty leagues from the coast. Now the fruit which he figures, though 

 indeed in connection with the flowering branch, is not a remnant of a former year, but a 

 well-developed, just ripe system of carpids, quite similar to those of Habzelia athiopica, 

 which are known to have been common in the African market. From his own drawing, 

 therefore, it is evident that Beauvois joined a fruit which he had seen on the coast, with a 

 flower observed at a later period, and still existing, without fruit, in his collection : for A. 

 De Candolle, as well as Richard, who have seen his specimens, found them only in flower. 

 These are the facts, confirming the conclusion to which R. Brown long ago was led by his 

 own sagacity. 



V. MYRISTICE^. 



Dioecious, opetalous_/&WCT\j. Endosperm ruminate, including in its top the minute embryo. 

 — Trees or shrubs ; leaves entire, without stipules. 



The aromatic properties of this Order are known from the Nutmeg (Myristica fragrans), 

 but in the indigenous species of America, though always present, they are not developed in 

 such an eminent degree. 



1. MYRISTICA, L. 



Septals usually 3, valvate, cohering. Anther-cells extrorse, adnate to a monadelphous tube. 

 Ovary single : ovule 1, erect. Pericarp baccate : seed enveloped in a branched aril. — Inflo- 

 rescence axillary. 



Sect. 1. Eumyristica. — Anthers 9-18, linear : column cylindrical, shortly stalked. 

 Arils few- or one-flowered. (Asiatic forms.) 



1*. M. fragrans, Houtt. Leaves elliptical-oblong, cuspidate, glabrate : 8-10 pairs of 

 primary veins ; flowers drooping, male corymbose, female solitary ; calyx ovoid, trifid ; an- 

 thers 9-12; berry ovoid-globose. — Desc. Fl. 8. t. 561. — M. moschata, Thnnb. — A tree, 

 about 30' high. — Hab. Naturalized in Jamaica, and in the Caribbean Islands ! [introduced 

 from the Moluccan Archipelago]. 



Sect. 2. Viroj.a. — Anthers usually 3, linear : column cylindrical, stalked. 

 Axillary panicles : flowers small, fascicled. 

 2. M. surinamensis, Roland. Leaves linear-oblong, glabrate, rusty beneath : 24- 

 30 pairs of primary veins ; fascicles before flowering involved in a large bract : single flowers 

 ebracteolate ; calyx infundibuliform, trifid ; anthers 3 ; berry globose, longitudinally keeled. 

 —Plukn. Aim. t. 250./. 6 : a leaf.— M. fatua, Sw.—k tree, 60' high; leaves variable in 

 breadth (4"-8" long, 8"'-2" broad), either rounded or pointed at the base, usually cuspidate : 

 petiole 2'" long; branches of panicle divaricated: fascicles remote, 5-15-flowered; calyx ex- 

 ternally downy, internally glabrons, 1"' long, white ; berry 6"'-8"' diam.— Hab. S. Vincent !, 

 Guild.; Tobago, Trinidad!, Prd., in woods; [Guiana!, equatorial Brazil!]. 



