218 MYRISTICA FRAGRANS 



the perianth, broadly ovate, acute at the apex and terminating in 

 two persistent stigmas. Fruit pendulous, about 3 inches long by 

 2 wide, having much the external appearance of a small pear, 

 but grooved by a longitudinal furrow which passes through the 

 somewhat lateral apiculus marking the position of the stigmas, 

 smooth, yellow; pericarp nearly \ inch thick, tough and fleshy, 

 yellowish- white, dehiscing from above along the furrow into two 

 equal valves, and containing a single erect seed which completely 

 fills the cavity, out of which it readily falls when ripe. Seed about 

 1J inch long, broadly ovoid, blunt, closely enveloped and almost 

 completely covered by an irregularly cut, fleshy arillus (" mace "), 

 which is cup-shaped round the basal hilum, and much folded over 

 the top of the seed, brilliant scarlet when fresh, but yellow and 

 brittle when dry ; testa very hard and thick, dark brown, smooth 

 and shining, marked with impressions from the tightly appressed 

 arillus ; inner seed-coat thin, membranous, pale brown ; nucleus 

 of the seed (" nutmeg ") wrinkled externally, mainly consisting 

 of the abundant endosperm, which is rather soft but firm, whitish, 

 and marbled with numerous reddish-brown vein-like partitions, 

 into which the inner seed-coat penetrates (ruminated) ; embryo at 

 the base near the hilum ; radicle small ; cotyledons f oliaceous, 

 laciniated. 



Habitat. The nutmeg tree is a native of the Moluccas and 

 other Indian islands, Amboyna, Bouro, New Guinea, &c., pre- 

 ferring a light soil, shade, and a moist atmosphere. Its culti- 

 vation is successfully carried on chiefly in the same islands, and 

 especially in the small volcanic Banda group where the tree 

 was first discovered, but also in the Philippines, Bencoolen, 

 Penang, and Singapore, as well as in Mauritius, the West 

 Indies, and South America. The plant was first introduced into 

 our stoves in 1795 by Sir Joseph Banks, and specimens are now 

 to be seen in several botanic gardens. Male trees are said to 

 be much more frequent than female. 



A. DC., in DC. Prod., xiv, p. 189 ; Hook. f. and Thomson, Fl. 

 India (1855), i, p. 154; Miquel, FJ. Ind. Batav., i, 2, p. 53; 

 Lindl., Fl. Med., p. 21. 



