MYRISTICACE^E. 



Nat. syst. ed. 2. p. 15. 



MYRISTICA. 



Flowers dioecious. Calyx urceolate, 3-toothed. <? . Fila- 

 ments monadelphous ; anthers 6-10, connate. $. Ovary 

 simple; style none; stigma 2-lobed. Pericarp fleshy, 2- valved, 

 1-seeded. Seed enveloped in a fleshy aril. 



53. M. officinalis Linn, suppl. 265. Gcertn. carpol. i. t. 41. 



f. i. Hook, exot.fl. tt. 155. 156. Bot. Mag. tt. 2756. 2757 



M. moschata Thunb. Woodv. t. 134. S. and C. ii. t. 104. 

 M. aromatica Lam. illustr. t. 832. Roxb. corom. iii. t. 267. — 

 Moluccas, especially the island of Banda. (Nutmeg tree.) 



A dioecious tree ; trunk from 20 to 25 feet high; bark greyish- 

 brown, tolerably smooth, abounding in a yellow juice. Leaves aromatic, 

 from 3 to 6 inches long, subbifarious, oblong, approaching to elliptical, 

 glabrous, rather obtuse at the base, acuminate, quite entire, above 

 dark-green and somewhat glossy, beneath much paler, but neither 

 pulverulent nor downy. Petioles from \ to £ of an inch long, plane 

 above. Racemes axillary, subumbellate, sometimes forked or com- 

 pound. Peduncles and pedicels glabrous, the latter having a quickly 

 deciduous, ovate bract at its summit, often pressed close to the flower. 

 Male flowers, 3 to 5 or more on a peduncle. Calyx urceolate, thick 

 and fleshy, clothed with a very indistinct reddish pubescence, dingy 

 pale yellow, cut into three, erect, or erecto-patent teeth. Filaments 

 incorporated into a thickened, whitish cylinder, about as long as the 

 calyx, the upper half covered by about 10 linear-oblong 2-celled anthers, 

 free at their base, opening longitudinally. Female flowers scarcely dif- 

 ferent from the male, except that the pedicel is very frequently solitary. 

 Pistil solitary, shorter than the calyx, broadly-ovate, a little tapering 

 upwards into a short style, and bearing a 2-lobed persistent stigma. 

 Fruit fleshy, nearly spherical, of the size, and somewhat of the shape 

 of a small pear ; flesh astringent, yellowish, almost white within, 4 or 5 

 lines thick, opening into two, nearly equal, longitudinal valves. Arillus 

 thick, between horny and fleshy, much lacerated, folded and anastomos- 

 ing towards the extremity, enveloping the nut almost entirely, and so 

 tightly as to form inequalities on its surface ; when fresh, brilliant scar- 

 let ; when dry, much more horny, of a yellow-brown colour, and very 

 brittle. Nut broadly ovate, or oval; the shell very hard, rugged dark- 

 brown, glossy, about half a line thick, pale and smooth within. Seed 

 or nutmeg oval, pale brown, quite smooth when first deprived of its 

 shell, but soon becoming shrivelled, so as to have irregular, vertical 

 lines or furrows on its surface. Albumen firm, but fleshy, whitish, but so 

 traversed with red-brown veins, which abound in oil, as to appear beauti- 

 fully marbled. Near the base of the albumen, and imbedded in a cavity 

 21 c 3 



