178 SEEDS 



Constituents. -The chief constituent is the mucilage which is con- 

 tained in the cells of the epidermis ; it swells and dissolves when 

 the seeds are immersed in water. 



Uses. In dysentery and chronic diarrhoea ; taken dry they absorb 

 water in the intestine yielding a protective mucilage ; they are also 

 used as a poultice. 



Allied Drag. Psyllium seeds (flea seeds), the seeds of Plantago 

 Psyllium, Linne, are similar but smaller, dark brown and shining ; 

 they are much used on the continent for diarrhoea. 



NUTMEGS 



(Myristicae Semina, Myristicae a Nux Moschata) 



Source, &C. The nutmeg tree, Myristica fragrans, Van Houtte 

 (N.O. M yristicacece) , is indigenous to the Molucca Islands and a few 

 neighbouring islands, as well as north-western New Guinea, but 

 has been introduced into Penang, Sumatra, Malacca, Java, the 

 West Indies, and Ceylon, nutmegs and mace being exported from 

 the Malay Archipelago, the Straits Settlements, the West Indies, and 

 Ceylon. 



The use of the spice was introduced into Europe probably during 

 the twelfth century. The Banda Islands, where they were produced, 

 were discovered about 1506, and passed into the possession of the 

 Portuguese, and finally of the Dutch, who, in this case as in that of 

 cloves and cinnamon, made every endeavour to restrict the cultiva- 

 tion of the trees to the islands of Banda and Amboyna, and thus 

 create a profitable monopoly. The nutmeg trees of adjacent islands 

 were destroyed, and the nutmegs themselves soaked in a mixture of 

 slaked lime and water to render them, it was said, incapable of ger- 

 mination, a precaution that was quite unnecessary, as the vitality 

 of the seed is destroyed by the simple process of drying. For 

 some time these efforts were successful, and the nutmeg trade remained 

 in the hands of the Dutch ; but eventually the trees were successfully 

 introduced into Malacca, Ceylon, and Jamaica. 



The fruit is a fleshy drupe resembling a small peach in size and 

 shape. As it ripens the fleshy pericarp splits longitudinally and 

 discloses a crimson, lobed arillus surrounding a brown seed (fig. 97). 

 The fruits are collected, the pericarps removed, and the crimson 

 arillus (mace) stripped off in a single piece (double blade) or in two 

 halves (single blade), flattened, and dried, during which the crimson 

 colour changes to a reddish yellow. 



The seeds are then carefully dried, usually over a charcoal fire, 

 a process that requires several weeks. When quite dry the kernel 

 rattles in the thin, brittle, brown shell. The latter is broken and 



