9 ^NOTES ON THE 
the same way that modifications of the same organs in the Asiatic 
species have served as foundations for the subgenera or sections My- 
ristica, Knema, and Pyrrhosa. 
The American Myristice are generally lofty trees, of which the first ra- 
mifications are, according to Mr. Spruce, almost always in fives, although 
the subsequent branches are irregularly alternate. The leaves are 
smooth on the upper side, and when young more or less clothed on the 
underside as well as the young shoots with a stellate down, which 
either entirely disappears in the adult leaf, leaving the under surface 
more orless glaucous, or persists and grows in the form of a rusty 
down. ‘The lateral veins diverging from the midrib are regular and 
parallel, and are usually connected within the margin, the reticulated 
smaller veins being generally inconspicuous. Two species, M. carinata 
and M. punctata, have the leaves completely covered with minute trans- 
parent dots, particularly conspicuous in the young leaf, whilst in the 
others I can find no trace of them; at least, in the adult leaf. The 
flowers, both male and female, are arranged in little heads or umbels, 
which are themselves distributed in axillary panicles, sometimes nearly 
simple and racemose, sometimes very much branched, ample, and 
= crowded with minute flowers. The female panicles are less branched 
than the male, but never reduced to one or to a very few flowers as in 
most Asiatic species. Each little head or umbel is, when young, en- 
closed in bracts, which are so very deciduous that they are seldom to 
be seen in dried specimens. The calyx appears to be constantly trifid 
or tridentate. The ovary in the very few species in which I have seen 
the female flower is crowned by two small sessile ovate stigmata. 
The aromatic properties of the American Nutmegs are described as 
analogous to those of the Eastern species, but coarser, and the chief 
use made of them appears to be the extraction of a wax for making 
candles; whilst the bark of most species yields an acrid medicinal oil, 
too caustic to be used otherwise than for external application. 
‘The following is a synopsis of all the American species known to me. 
$ 1. Anthere 3, rarius 4-6, oblonge ; columna gracilis, parte nuda 
antheris equilongi v. longiore.—(The lateral veins in this groupe 
are usually numerous, and run straight nearly to the edge of 
the leaf.) 
1. M. carinata, Spruce, sp. n.; foliis petiolatis anguste Ta ob- 
