1025 



MYIUOPHYLLITES. 



MYIUSTICA. 



1023 



parts of the world, especially in North America and the Cape of Good 

 Hope. The order embraces 3 genera and about 20 species. fCoMPTONlA 

 MTRJCA.J 



3 2 



llyrica arguta. 



1, male flower ; 2, an ovary ; 3, a drupe cut open vertically to show the 

 erect position of the seed within it. 



MYRIOPHYLLI'TES, a genus of Fossil Plants, from the Coal 

 Measures. (Artis.) 



MYKIOPHYLLUM (from nvpios, numerous, and <t>v\\ot>, a leaf), a 

 genus of Plants belonging to the natural order Haloragacew. It has 

 monoecious flowers; a 4-parted calyx; 4 petals, fugitive, longer than 

 the calyx in the staminiferous flowers, small and reflex or none in the 

 piatilUferous flowers; the stamens 8, styles 4, villose; the fruit 

 tetragonal, separable into four hard nuts. The species are floating 

 aquatic herbs, rising above the water to blossom. The leaves are 

 finely cut, opposite or verticillate ; the flowers are small, disposed in 

 axillary whorls or in whorled spikes, the upper leaves being almost 

 all abortive. 



M. rerticillalum, Verticillate Water-Milfoil, has the flowers all 

 axillary, whorled ; the bracts pinn.itiful. It is a native of Europe, in 

 ponds, ditches, pools, and lakes, but never in running water. It is 

 found in Great Britain, but is a rare plant. 



M. iiiicatum, Spiked Water-Milfoil, has the flowers whorled, forming 

 a leaflesa spike, the bracts small entire, the spike erect when in bud. 

 It is a native of Europe and North America, in ditches, lakes, and pools, 

 never in running water; it is found abundantly in Great Britain. 



3f. alternifulium has the spike drooping when in bud, and the fertile 

 flowers in axillary whorls. It is found in ponds and ditches in Europe, 

 in Great Britain rarely. 



About 10 other species of this genus from various parts of the 

 world have been described. 



(Babington, Manual of British Botany.) 



MYRIOPODA. [MYRIAFODA.] 



MYRIPRISTIS. [PEHCID*.] 



MYRISTICA, a genus of Plants, the type of the order Myrtsticacea;. 

 The flowers are dioecious ; calyx urceolate, 3-toothed ; filaments of 

 stamens monadelphous ; authers 6 to 1 0, connate ; ovary simple ; 

 style, none; stigma 2-lobed ; pericarp fleshy, 2-valved, 1 -seeded; 

 eed enveloped in a fleshy aril. 



.V. I'ffcinalit, Linnicus (M. Moschata, Thunberg; M. aromatica, 

 Roxburgh), is the Nutmeg-Tree. 



This tree is a native of the Molucca Islands, especially of Banda, but 

 cultivated in Java, Sumatra, and elsewhere in the East, and lately in 

 Cayenne and several of the West India Islands. It yields nutmegs 

 and mace, the best of which are produced in the first-mentioned 

 inlands. The fruit is of the size and form of a peach, and, when ripe, 

 the fleshy part separates into two nearly equal halves, exposing the 

 kernel surrounded by an arillus, the former being the nutmeg, the 

 latter the mace. The arillus is red when gathered ; but being sprin- 

 kled with sea-water and dried it assumes an orange-yellow colour. It 

 has a fatty shining appearance, yet is horny and brittle. The odour 

 in strongly aromatic ; the taste aromatic, but sharp and acrid. It con- 

 tuna both a fixed oil (in small quantity) and a volatile oil. One pound 

 of mace yields by distillation one ounce of the latter. The former is 

 iiot an article of European commerce, and what is terinod tlin 



JfAT. HI.ST- "IV. Vul.. III. 



' expressed oil of mace ' is obtained from the nutmeg, and should bear 

 its name. An inferior mace is obtained from various species of 

 Myristica, especially the M. tomentosa and M. officinalis (Martius), 

 which is a Brazilian tree. The properties of mace are similar to those 

 of the nutmeg. 



I 



4 5 



Myristica officinalis. 



, a calyx ; 2, the monadelphous stamens of a male flower ; 3, the pistil of a 

 female flower ; 4, the seed of the nutmeg, enveloped in the mace or aril ; 5, a 

 vertical section of the seed, showing the ruminated albumen and the small 

 emhryo at its base. 



On the removal of the mace is seen the shell, of an oval or ovate 

 shape, and of a dark-brown colour, in which is contained the seed or 

 nut This is cicely invested by an inner shell or coat, which dips 

 down into the substance of the albumen of the seed, and gives it the 

 character which is termed ruminated. Two or three gatherings of the 

 nutmegs are made in the year, generally in July and August, in 

 December, and in April. The third period yields the best nutmegs. 

 The collected nuts are dried in the sun, or by the heat of a moderate 

 Bre, till the shells split : they are then sorted and dipped in lime-water, 

 ;o preserve them from the attack of insects. The nuts are about an 

 nch long, of the size of a hazel nut, but with a furrowed or sculp- 

 tured surface. Those of good quality should be heavy each weighing, 

 on an average, 90 grains. The internal aspect is marbled and of a 

 fatty appearance. The substance is gray ; but the veins, which are of 

 a reddish-brown, consist of cellular tissue abounding in oil, and are 

 the processes of the internal coat already mentioned. Odour agreeable, 

 strongly aromatic. Taste warm, aromatic, oily. 



Besides the fixed oil, it contains a volatile oil, lighter than water, 

 liug of the specific gravity of p'931-47, while a spurious oil of nut- 

 meg is only 0'871. By keeping it deposits a stearopten, or muscat- 

 camphor, called Myristicine. The solid or fixed oil consists of stearine 

 and elaine, with a slight portion of volatile oil intermixed. Both the 

 ixed and volatile oils are used for medical purposea Of the fixed 

 here are two varieties, the English and Dutch, of which the former 

 s the better. It occurs in pieces, wrapped in leaves of the banana, 

 weighing about three-quarters of a pound. When cut into it has a 

 uniformly reddish-yellow colour. The Dutch sort is in larger pieces, 

 wrapped sometimes in leaves, sometimes in paper, and of a lighter yel- 

 low colour. Both are frequently adulterated. The volatile oil is also 

 mixed with purified oil of turpentine. Nutmegs are frequently either 

 digested in alcohol or distilled to abstract the volatile oil, and then 

 passed off as fresh. Such nutmegs are lighter, and when a hot needle 

 is inserted do not give an oily coating to it. Old, worm-eaten, or wild 

 nutmegs should be rejected. Genuine or cultivated nutmegs are called 

 female, to distinguish them from the male or wild nutmegs, which are 

 the produce either of the M. Moschata, var. sphenocarjia, or of M. 

 tomentosa (Thunb.). These are longer, heavier (weighing generally 

 110 grains), and of inferior quality. They are more apt to cause 

 narcotic symptoms, giddiness, &c., than the true sort. iThe coarse 

 strong-smelling nutmegs from Santa Fd are from the M. Oloba. Other 

 species also yield nutmegs as M. epuria, in the Philippines; M. 

 Madagascariemis and M. acuminata, in Madagascar; and M. Bicuiba, 

 in Brazil. Some nutmegs have little or no odour, as the M. fatua, 

 but they nevertheless act powerfully on the system. M. spuria yields 

 a crimson juice, which is employed in the Philippines as a substitute 

 for dragon's-blood. 



Nutmegs and mace, from the large quantity of volatile oil, are 

 decidedly stimulant, and when used in abundance produce, by exciting 



3 u 



