218 



N. Ord. MYRISTICACE^E. Liiull., Veg. K., p. 301; Le Maout & 

 Dec., p. 650; Baill., Hist. PL, ii. 



Genus Myristica,* Linn. A. DC., in DC. Prod., xiv, p. 189. 

 Species over 80, all tropical, and mainly Asiatic, but some 

 American and a few Australian. 



218, Myristica fragrans, Houttuyn, Hist. Nat., ii, pt. 3, p. 233 



(1774). 



Nutmeg. 



Syn. M. moscbata, Thumb. M. officinalis, Linn. f. M. aromatica, 



Lam. 



Figures. Woodville, t. 238; Roxburgh, PL Coromandel, t. 274, cop. in 

 Hayne, ix, t. 12 ; Nees, t. 133 ; Bot. Mag., 2756, 2757, cop. in Steph. 

 & Ch., t. 104; Berg & Sch., t. 13 a; Hook., Exotic Bot., tt. 155, 156 ; 

 Blume, Rnmphia, t. 55; A. DC., in Fl. Bras., fasc. 25, t. 38; Baill., 

 ii, figs. 298-306. 



Description. A small evergreen tree 25 40 feet high when full 

 grown, with numerous spreading branches covered with greyish- 

 brown rather smooth bark ; younger branches green. Leaves 

 alternate, shortly petiolate, without stipules, somewhat convex 

 above, 4 6 inches long, ovate or oblong-ovate, acute at both 

 ends, entire, smooth, strongly veined, dark green, paler beneath. 

 Flowers dioecious : in small axillary racemes of 2 6 flowers, in 

 the female tree sometimes solitary ; pedicels slender, drooping, 

 with a single, quickly deciduous, rounded bract just below the 

 flower. Perianth about f inch long, fleshy, bell-shaped or 

 urceolate, nearly smooth, pale yellow, cut into 3 (rarely 4), 

 spreading or erect, triangular, acute teeth, aestivation valvate. 

 Male flowers : Stamens combined into a central fleshy column, 

 about as long as the tube of the perianth, with about 6 10 

 linear, 2-celled anthers occupying its upper two-thirds and 

 opening longitudinally. Female flowers : Ovary superior, one- 

 celled, with a single erect anatropous ovule, a little shorter than 



* Myristica, from fjivpiartKos, suitable for an ointment (pvpov); a mediaeval 

 name for the " nut." 



