jiutmisu KORTUS JAMAICEXSIS. u 



botanic garden, Liguanea, raised by Mr. Wiles ; and in the Hortus Eastensis it lias 

 been classed as a species of annona, with the trivial name myristica, in allusion to the 

 resemblance in taste its seeds have to the nutmeg, Jt h also known by the name of 

 calabash nutmeg. The following are its characters, taken from a careful examination 

 of many of its flowers: Calyx a one-leafed perianth, deeply divided into three trian- 

 gular coloured segments, shorter than the corolla ; somewhat nervous and crispated ; it 

 is perforated by the style; corolla one-petaled, also perforated, and deeply divide! 

 into six unequal segments, three exterior and three interior; the fruit more than 

 double the length of the calyx, of the same shape, when Full grown of a yellow colour, 

 striped with purple, and longer than the interior ones, which are sub-cordate, coiuii- 

 vent, nervous, of the same colour as the others but less undulated ; the stamens have no 

 filaments ; anthers numerous, sessile, forming a ring round the base of the germ as in 

 annona, adhering, but easily separated : the pistil has a turbinated, sulfated, and tri- 

 gonal germ, seated on the apex of the columnar style, which is long, perforating the 

 calyx and corolla, to which it is so slightly attached as easily to slip through, leaving 

 the central hole perfect; stigma sub-globular, bifid, purple, crowning the germ-; 

 pericarp a large berry covered with a hard, thick, leathery, or woody, bark, one celled ; 

 seeds many, nestling. 



This grows to a large branchy tree, in habit resembling the annonas. The leaves 

 come out alternately on thick short footstalks, they are oblong-oval, quite entire, from 

 six to nine inches long, and about two and a half to three broad, smooth, of a pale 

 green colour above, lighter below. The flowers come out from below the small twigs, 

 which have a leaf on the opposite side, they are pendent on four or five inches long 

 footstalks, which are bracted. Both leaves and twigs have a taste and smell somewhat 

 resembling angelica. The seeds of this plant, which are a good substitute for nutmegs, 

 vegetate easily when fresh, but will not keep long out of the ground. 



It bears a considerable number of large round pods resembling the calabash, hanging 

 from the branches by a long pedicle. Tlie pods are from four to five inches diameter, 

 and contain a multitude of nuts or kernels, of about one inch in length, and one-third 

 of an inch in thickness, a " packed close in a very singular regularity, so that, after 

 displacing them, it is impossible to restore them to the same order and compactness as 

 before. These kernels, when thoroughly dried, are of a light, reddish, brown, co- 

 lour, impregnated with an aromatic oil, resembling that of the Eastern nutmeg, from 

 which they differ so little in flavour and quality, that they may be used for similar pur- 

 poses in food or medicine; the only perceptible difference to the taste is, that they are 

 less pungent than the East Indian nutmeg. It was a long time before the tree at the 

 Retreat bore fruit ; at the time of its bearing it was about eighteen feet in height. It 

 has since been cultivated by many gentlemen in different parts of the island, and may 

 probably in a few years be adopted into general use, as well as furnish an article of ex- 

 port. I take it to be the same as that found in Guiana. When intended for exporta- 

 tion, it might be advisable to send them in the dry pods entire, or lay the kernels in 

 lime water for a little while, drying them afterwards again in the sun, or a shady 

 place. Long. 



See Alligator- Apple -Cherimoya Custard- Apple Sour-Sop. 



B 2 Oas. 



