NUTMEG 205 



the large nearly transparent spheroidal or ellipsoidal oil-secretion 

 cells, associated with small polygonal parenchyma and spiral tracheae; 

 parenchyma cells of the endosperm more or less polygonal, and filled 

 with starch grains and aleurone grains; starch grains single or 2- 

 to 20-compound, the individual grains being spheroidal, plano- 

 convex or polygonal, from 0.003 to 0.020 mm. in diameter and colored 

 blue with iodin solution (distinction from starch grains in mace, 

 which are colored yellowish-red); fragments of parenchyma con- 

 taining aleurone grains show frequently large rhombohedral prisms. 

 Mounts made with hydrated chloral solutions show numerous glob- 

 ules of a fixed oil which later may separate in the form of rod-like 

 crystals; mounts in any of the fixed oils show the separation of 

 spheroidal aggregates of crystals of the fixed oil which polarize light 

 strongly. The powder made from " limed " Nutmeg shows, under 

 the microscope, upon the addition of water containing 25 per cent 

 of sulphuric acid, the immediate separation of crystals of calcium 

 sulphate in the form of small needles or short rods which do not 

 polarize light. 



Constituents. Fixed oil, sometimes occurring in prismatic 

 crystals, 25 to 40 per cent; volatile oil 8 to 15 per cent. The oil 

 is official as Oleum Myristicse and contains myristicin and a number 

 of terpenes. Nutmegs also contain considerable proteins and starch, 

 the latter being colored blue by iodin solutions. 



Standard of Purity. Nutmeg is the dried seed of Myristica 

 fragrans Houtt., deprived of its testa, with or without a thin coating 

 of lime (CaO). It contains not less than 25 per cent of non-volatile 

 ether extract, not more than 10 per cent of crude fiber, not more than 

 5 per cent of total ash, nor more than 0.5 per cent of ash insoluble 

 in hydrochloric acid. 



Macassar nutmeg, Papua nutmeg, male nutmeg, long nutmeg, is 

 the dried seed of Myristica argentea Warb., deprived of its testa. 

 (U. S. Dept. of Agric.) 



Allied Plants. Other species of myristica yield nutmegs which 

 are used by the natives, as M. succedanea of Timor, M. fatua of the 

 Indian Archipelago, and M. Kombo of Guinea. The kernels of the 

 seeds of M. fatua constitute the long, wild, or male nutmeg. They 

 are narrow-ellipsoidal, feebly aromatic and have a more or less dis- 



sperm showing a central vascular bundle (?/), having on either side a layer 

 with large oil-secretion cells and small polygonal parenchymatous cells; 

 cells of the endosperm (L) surrounding the strand of secondary perisperm, 

 A and D, after Meyer; B and C, after Moeller, 



