154 



M YR 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



M YR 



Suffolk ; uear Yarmouth, and at Hedenham, in Norfolk ; and in 

 the river near Peterborough. It flowers in June and July. 



Myristica; a genus of the class Dicecia, order Monadel- 

 phia, or, according to Swartz, of class Monadelphia, order 

 Triandria. GENERIC CHARACTER. Male. Calix: perianth 

 one-leafed, coriaceous, trifid ; segments ovate, acute. Corolla : 

 none. Stamina: filamentutn one, columnar, cylindric, erect, 

 shorter than the calix; antherae three to ten, linear, connate, 

 growing round the upper part of the filamentum. Female, on 

 a distinct tree, (or on the same trunk, or on different trees, 

 according to Lamark and Jussieu.) Calix: perianth as in the 

 male, deciduous. Corolla: none. Pistil: germen superior, 

 ovate; style very short; stigma bifid; segments ovate, spread- 

 ing. Pericarp": capsule drupaceous, fleshy, roundish, one- 

 celled, at length two-valved, bursting earlier on one side ; 

 aril between the pericarp and the nut, somewhat fleshy, oily, 

 subdivided into longitudinal segments. Seed: nut, roundish, 

 one-celled, valveless, with a thin shell ; nucleus roundish, 

 variegated with flexuose curvatures. ESSENTIAL CHARAC- 

 TER. Calix: trifid. Corolla: none. Male. Filamentum: 

 columnar. A ntherte: terminating, united. Female. Capsule: 

 superior, drupaceous, two-valved. Nut : involved in an aril 

 called the Mace. The species are, 



1. Myristica Aromatica ; Aromatic or True Nutmeg Tree. 

 Calices" ovate, trifid at the top ; leaves elliptic, pubescent 

 underneath; fruits even. This is a large tree, with erect 

 branches, and a smooth ash-coloured bark ; the inner bark is 

 red ; fruit a superior berry, fleshy, rather solid, finally drying 

 up into a coriaceous crust, opening on one side, containing 

 one seed (which is the nutmeg,) arilled : this aril, or cover, 

 is what is called the mace. The leaves are aromatic, and if 

 the trunk or branches be wounded, they yield a glutinous 

 red liquor. This tree is a native of the East Indies, and 

 especially of the island of Banda : and is thus described by 

 Sir George Staunton. The Nutmeg Tree rises with a smooth 

 brown bark, perfectly straight. Its strong and numerous 

 branches proceed regularly in an oblique direction upwards. 

 They bear large oval leaves pendulous from them, some a 

 foot in length ; the upper surface smooth, and of a deep 

 agreeable green, the under surface marked with a strong 

 nerve along the middle, from which others proceed obliquely : 

 it is of an uniform bright brown colour, as if strewed all 

 over with a fine brown powder, and the whole leaf is very 

 fragrant. The king of France's gardener at the Isle of 

 Bourbon, in 1779, distinguished the Nutmeg Trees into 

 three sorts. 1. The male or barren Nutmeg. 2. The Royal 

 Nutmeg, or female, producing the long nuts. 3. The Queen 

 Nutmeg, yielding the precious round nuts, intended to repro- 

 duce the females, but which gives separately, the one long 

 nuts, intended to give males, the other round nuts, intended 

 to produce the two sorts of females ; namely, that producing 

 the long, and that producing the round nut. The only 

 difference between the Royal and Queen Nulmeg is in the 

 fruit. That of the Royal is thicker, longer, and more 

 pointed ; the green shell is thicker, and is longer in ripen- 

 ing: the green shell after its opening preserves its freshness 

 for eight or nine days : the Mace is more substantial, and 

 three or four times as long as that of the Queen Nutmeg ; 

 and its stripes or thongs, of which there are from fifteen 

 to seventeen principal ones, are of a livelier red ; they 

 are also broader, longer, and thicker, and not only embrace 

 the nuts throughout its whole length, but pass it, and cross 

 under it, as if to hinder it from falling. The Royal Nut- 

 meg is generally from fifteen to sixteen lines long, thick 

 in proportion, and has no longitudinal stripe. It remains 

 on the tree a long time after the opening of the green shell, 



and gives birth to insects in the shell that feed upon it. The 

 Queen Nutmeg produces much smaller nuts, only nine or 

 ten lines long, not so thick by a third, and well marked by 

 a longitudinal groove on one side; they are round, and 

 resemble a small peach ; the green shell is not so thick : the 

 Mace, which is composed of nine or ten principal stripes, grows 

 only half down the nut, leaving it at liberty to escape and 

 plant itself. By thus detaching itself, the nut prevents the 

 insects from destroying it; the green shell also changing at 

 the end of two or three days, soon falls, and separates from 

 the nut. This green shell, when preserved, has the fine 

 taste of the nut itself. The Nutmeg Tree has been intro- 

 duced into the British territories in the E. and W. Indies; and 

 a premium has been offered by the Society of Arts, Manufac- 

 tures, and Commerce, of London, ever since the year 1783, 

 for the greatest quantity of merchantable nutmegs, not less 

 than five pounds weight, the growth of the West Indies ; but, 

 as far as we are informed, hitherto without success. As the 

 Nutmeg tree has not yet been introduced among us, we can- 

 not give any particular directions for the stove culture of it. 

 In its native soil it grows in woods, and seems to be propa- 

 gated by birds. The Nutmeg is a moderately warm and srrate- 

 ful spice, and is supposed to be particularly useful in weakness 

 of the stomach, loss of appetite, and those sicknesses and 

 vomitings which usually accompany pregnancy. It is likewise 

 excellent in violent purgings, but is liable, when taken in any 

 quantity, to sit very uneasy at the stomach, and frequently 

 affects the head. If, however, it is roasted in a gentle heat 

 till it becomes quite friable, it proves less subject to those in- 

 conveniences, and is also much more serviceable in fluxes, and 

 most other complaints to which it is adapted. The Mace has 

 a pleasant aromatic smell, and a warm bitterish aromatic taste. 

 It is in common use as a grateful spice, and appears to be, in 

 its general qualities, very much like the Nutmeg, the greatest 

 difference consisting in its being more bitter and less unctuous, 

 and sitting more easily on weak stomachs. Oil of Mace, as 

 it is generally called, though procured from the Nutmeg, is 

 principally used externally in plaisters for the stomach, and 

 in nervous and other ointments for easing pain. The dis- 

 tilled water is a good nervous medicine, or at least a good 

 vehicle to take nervous medicines in. 



2. Myristica Sebifera. Leaves cordate, oblong, tomentose 

 underneath ; fruits tomentose. This is a tree, from forty to 

 sixty feet high, branching at the top ; the branches are long, 

 tortuous, upright, and declining; the flowers heaped, five 

 or six, sessile. The fruit varies in size and form on different 

 trees, being twice as large in some; it is oblong, the valves 

 being produced into an obtuse cylinder. From the kernel 

 is extracted a species of yellowish suet or fat, which serves 

 for various medical and economical purposes ; and is made 

 into candles. The wounded bark emits a red acrid juice.- 

 Native of marshy woods and hills in Guiana. 



3. Myristica Fatua. Leaves oblong, lanceolate, pubescent 

 underneath; calices and fruits villose. The nutmeg of this is 

 aromatic, but occasions delirium and madness for a time. 

 Native of Tobago. Gtertner has described three other species 

 of this genus, all natives of Malabar and Ceylon, but they 

 are not of sufficient importance to be here introduced. 



Myrmecia ; a genus of the class Tetrandria, order Monogy- 

 nia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: perianth one-leafed, 

 tubular, long, five-toothed; toothlets erect, acute. Corolla: 

 one-petalled ; tube long, opening, inflated ; border five-cleft ; 

 segments ovate, acute, revolute ; nectary five small glands, 

 surrounding the base of the germen. Stamina: filamenta 

 four, filif&rm, inserted at bottom into the tube, and longer 

 than it; anthene linear, erect. Pistil: germen oblong, supe- 



