656 MYRISTICACEH.—LAURACEA. 
Distribution and Numbers.—Natives of tropical India and 
America. Illustrative Genera :—Myristica, Limn.; Hyalostemma, 
Wall. There are above 40 species. 
Properties and Uses.—Aromatic properties are almost uni- 
versally found in the plants of this order, and more especially 
in their seeds. The bark and the pericarp are frequently 
acrid. 
Myristica.—The valuable and well-known spices called Nutmegs and 
Mace are both derived from M. fragrans (M. officinalis), the Nutmeg tree. 
This tree is a native of the Moluccas and other Indian islands, &c., and it isnow 
cultivated in the Banda Islands, also in the Philippines, Bencoolen, Penang 
and Singapore, in Mauritius, the West India Islands, and South America. 
At Penang and Singapore, whence formerly the best nutmegs were obtained, 
its cultivation has declined of late vears. The Nutmeg tree bears pear- 
shaped fruits, commonly about the size of an ordinary peach, with fleshy 
pericarps ; each fruit contains a single seed, surrounded by a_lacerated 
envelope called an arillode, or commonly mace ; this is scarlet when fresh, 
but usually becomes yellow when dried, as in the mace of commerce. 
Beneath the arillode we find a hard shell, and within this the nucleus of 
the seed invested closely by its inner coat, which also penetrates the sub- 
stance of the albumen, and divides it into lobes (rumimated albumen). 
This nucleus—that is, the dried seed divested of its hard shell and arillode— 
is the commercial and official Nutmeg of the British Pharmacopeia. The 
pericarp is used asa preserve. Both nutmegs and mace are largely employed 
as condiments, but their use requires caution in those subject to apoplexy 
or other cerebral affections, as they possess somewhat narcotic properties. 
In medicine they are employed as stimulants, carminatives, and flavouring 
agents. Nutmegs yield when distilled with water a volatile oil, which is 
also official in the British Pharmacopeeia. Mace under like conditions also 
yields a volatile oil of nearly similar properties. The substance known as 
Expressed Oil of Mace, Butter of Nutmegs, or Expressed or Concrete Oil of 
Nutmegs, is imported chiefly from Singapore, and is prepared by reducing 
nutmegs to coarse powder, which after exposure to the vapour of hot water is 
submitted to pressure between heated plates. It consists of a small quantity 
of volatile oil mixed with several fatty bodies, the most important of which 
is myristicin; this expressed oil is also official in the British Pharmaco- 
poeia. The above Nutmegs are frequently termed the True, Round, or 
Official Nutmegs, to distinguish them from those of an inferior quality, 
which are derived from other species of Myristica, &c. One of these inferior 
nutmegs is found in commerce, and is called the Long or Wild Nutmeg. It 
occurs in three conditions, namely, without the hard shell and arillode, then 
termed Long or Wild Nutmeg; enclosed within the shell but divested of the 
arillode (Long or Wild Nutmeg in the shell); and within the shell and 
arillode (Long or Wild Nutmeg covered with Mace). These long nutmegs 
are said to be derived from Myristica fatua, and probably also, to some 
extent, from M. malabarica. Both the long nutmeg and its mace are very 
inferior to the similar parts of M. fragrans. There are some other kinds of 
Nutmegs, derived from different species of Myristiea, which are in use in 
various parts of the world, but as they are much inferior in their qualities 
and are not found in commerce, it is unnecessary to allude further to them 
here. Some other False or Wild Nutmegs are also derived from plants of the 
order Lauracee. (See Acrodiclidium, Agathophyllum, and Cryptocarya.) 
Order 4. Lauraces, the Laurel Order. —Character.— 
Aromatic trees or shrubs (parasitic and twining in Cassytha). 
Leaves simple, exstipulate, usually alternate, sometimes dotted 
