MONOCHLAMTDEiE. 633 



dehiscence. Female flower of 1 or many carpels ; or rarely 2, 

 and distinct ; each Avith 1 erect ovule. Fruit succulent. Seed 

 arillate, with copious oily-fleshy iniminated albumen; embryo 

 small, with an inferior radicle. 



Distribution, ^c. — Natives of tropical India and America. 

 Examples: — Myristica, Virola, Hyalostemma. There are 5 

 genera, and 44 species. 



Properties and Uses. — Aromatic properties are almost univer- 

 sally found in the plants of this order, more especially in their 

 seeds. The bark and the pericarp are frequently acrid. 



Myristica. —The valuable and well-known spices named Nutmegs and 

 Mace, are both derived from M. tiwschnia or officinalis. The Nutmeg tree is 

 a native of the Molucca Islands, but it is now cultivated in many tropical 

 regions. It bears pear-shaped fruits, commonly about the size of an ordinary 

 peach, with fleshy pericarps ; each iruit contains a single seed, surrounded by 

 a lacerated envelope called an arillode, or commonly mace; this is scarlet when 

 fresh, but becomes yellow afterwards. Beneath the mace we find a hard shell, 

 and within this the nucleus of the seed invested closely by the endopleura, 

 which also penetrates the substance of the albumen and" divides it into lobes 

 (ruminated albumen). This nucleus, or theseeddivestedof itsshell andarillode, 

 is our commercial nutmeg. The pericarp is commonly used as a 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 narcotic properties. In medicine they are employed as stimulants, 

 carminatives, and flavouring agents. Nutmegs yield when distilled with 

 water a volatile oil, called Volatile or Essential Oil of Nutmegs. Mace under 

 like conditions, also yields a volatile oil of nearly similar properties. The 

 substance called Expressed Oil of Mace, Butter of Nutmegs, or Expressed or 

 Concrete Oil of Nutmegs, is imported from the Moluccas, and is prepared by 

 heating nutmegs, and afterwards submitting them to pressure. It consists of 

 a small quantity of volatile oil mixed «ith two fatty substances. The Nut- 

 megs thus described above, are frequently termed the True or Round Nutmegs, 

 to distinguish them from those of an interior quality, which are obtained from 

 other species of Myristica, ^c. One of these mferior nutmegs is found in com- 

 merce, it is called the Long or Wild Nutmeg. It occurs in three conditions, 

 namely, without the hard shell and arillode, then termed the long or wild 

 nutmeg; enclosed within the shell divested of its arillode {long or wild nut. 

 meg in the shell) ; and within the shell and arillode {long or tvild nutmegs 

 covered with mace). These long nutmegs are said to be derived from Myris- 

 tica fatua or tomentosa, and probably, also, to some extent, from M. mala- 

 barica. Both the long nutmeg and its mace, are very inferior to the similar 

 parts of M. 7noschata, There are several other kinds of Nutmegs derived from 

 different species of Myristica, which are in use in various parts of the world, 

 but as they are much inferior in their qualities and are not found in com- 

 merce, it is unnecessary to allude to them here. We have already stated, 

 that the fruits of some Lauraceous plants are known under the name of Nut- 

 megs. 



Natural Order. 204. Begoxiace^. — The Begonia Order. — 

 Herbs or low succulent shrubs. Leaves alternate, unequal- 

 sided at the base {fig. 315), with large stipules. Flowers 

 diclinous. Calyx superior. Male flower with 4 sepals, 2 of 

 which are smaller and placed internal to the others. Stamens 

 namerous, distinct, or coherent in a column ; anthers 2-celled, 

 clavate, with longitudinal dehiscence, clustered. Female flower 

 with 5 or 8 sepals. Ovary inferior, winged, 3-celled, Avith 3 

 large projecting placentas meeting in theajds; stigmas 3, sessile, 

 2-lobed. Fruit winged, capsular. Seeds numerous, with a thin 



