MYRISTICA MOSCHATA, ORD. XL. Oleracee. 7 699 
_ THIS tree attains the height of thirty feet, producing numerous 
branches which rise together in stories, and covered with bark, 
which of the trunk is a reddish brown, but that of the young 
branches is of a bright grecn colour: the leaves are nearly 
elliptical, pointed, undulated, obliquely nerved. on the upper 
side of a bright green, on the under whitish, and stand alternately 
upon footstalks: the flowers are small, and hang upon slender pe- 
duncles, proceeding from the axillz of the leaves: they are both 
male and female upon separate trees.. 7 
Of the male flower the calyx consists ef one beH-shaped leaf, 
divided at the brim into three small teeth: there is no corolla: 
the stamina, according to De La Marck, are from six to twelve, 
joined in a bundle, consisting of four short filaments, inserted 
into the receptacle, and surrounded with antherz, which are long, 
linear, and united. 
_ Of the female flower the-calyx-is-simitar to that of the male 
flower: there is no corolla: the germen is above, oval, and sup- 
ports a style, terminated by two stigmata: the fruit is round or 
oval, and of the drupous kind, of which the external covering is 
fleshy, tough, and by opening at the top separates into two valves, 
and discovers the Mace, which has a reticulated appearance, and. 
divides into three portions, which closely invest a slender shell 
containing the seed: or Nufmeg. This tree is a native of the East 
Indies, particularly the Molucca Islands. 
The Nutmeg has been supposed to be the Comacum of Theo- 
phrastus, but there seems little foundation for this opinion, nor 
can it with more probability be thought to be the Chrysobalanos 
of Galen. Our first knowledge of it was evidently derived from 
the Arabians; by Avicenna it was called Jiausiban, or Jausiband,* 
which signifies Nut of Banda. Rumphius both figured and de- 
scribed this tree;’ but the figure given by him va so imperfect, 
and the description so confused, that Linnaeus, who gave it the 
* Lib. ii. cap. 503, and by Serapion it was named Jeuzbave. 
» Vide, 2 «. | : 
