the 



OF 



MYEISTICA 



OF 



BRITISH INDIA 



BT 



GEORGE KING, M.B., LL.U., F.R.S., C.I.E., 



Superintendent of the Royal Botanic Garden, Calcutta 



The morphology of the genus Myristica has been so excellently discussed by tl 



late Mr. Bentham (1); by Sir J. D. Hooke 

 MM. Alph. DeCandolle (3) and H. Baillon (4) 

 seems superflu 



and the late Dr. T. Thomson (2) 



d by Profes 



P. 



that it 



w to enter into an account of it here. But, as the present monograph 



cTthe British Indian species may fall into the hands of Forest Officers whose libraries 



a short account of it for their benefit. 



are usually very limited, I venture to give 



All the Nutmegs are either trees or bushes ; some 



of them attaining great size 



> 



3 



•i 



M. gig ante 



and. M, magnip 



wh 



a few {eg 



M. fragrans) rarely exceed thirty feet 



height The leaves are always simple, entire, exstipulate, alt. mate, feather-nerved, 

 ° often aromatic-at least when bruised-the fragrant principle being in some 



and very 

 pecies contained in special glands 



tuated within the tissues of the leaf. The flowers 



are generally small 



d they 



are 



,bly 



species at least (if. canarioides) monoecious 



in 



axillary or supra-axillary 



unisexual— usually dioecious, but in one 

 The male flowers are variously arranged 



: and the 



inflorescence 



often bracteate 



fascicles, racemes, umbels, panicles, or cymes; 



The male flowers are produced in much larger numbe 



o/Bi 

 Hook 



(3) Ann. des Sciences Naturelles, Ser. IV, toI. IV, p. 20. 



Hist 



Pflanzenfi 



Ann. Roy. Bot. Gard. Calcutta Vol. Ill 





