bears the pedicels thickened and knotty. Pedicels from half an inch to 
an inch long, slender, bearing at the top a very small, indistinct brown- 
ish bractea. Perianth single, urceolate, aptly compared by Rumpuius 
to the flower of the Lily of the Valley, which it resembles, both in size, 
hue, and general form: it is of a thick and fleshy texture, of a dingy, 
pale yellowish colour, cut into three or sometimes four erect, or at most 
erecto-patent teeth at the extremity. Within are the Stamens, collected 
into one body, rather shorter than the perianth, and without the trace of 
a pistil. Filaments, forming by their union a cylindrical, white, short, co- 
lumn, upon the top of which are the anthers, 11 in number, united into 
a cylindrical body, rounded at the top: each is linear, tapering, with 
two longitudinal cells, and emitting a yellow pollen. In the odour of the 
flowers, the fragrance of Musk and the Jessamine are united. : 
Femate Fiowenrs. 
These, Mr Guripine observes, may generally be distinguished from the 
male flowers, by their being solitary on the peduncle. The Perianth is 
of the same shape and texture, deciduous: the pistil has the germen 
broadly ovate, brownish, tapering upwards, where it is marked with a 
longitudinal line, but is not furnished with any visible style. Stigma of 
two small, white, at length deciduous lobes. A broad greenish band is 
generally visible near the middle of the germen. 
As the germen swells, the Perianth falls ; the former then enlarges, becomes 
obovate and pendent, till at length it constitutes a nearly spherical drupe, 
of the same size and shape as a pear, but somewhat more attenuated at 
the base. The flesh, which abounds in an astringent juice, is of a yel- 
lowish-brown colour, almost white within, 4 or 5 lines in thickness: 
this opens into two nearly equal valves, and presents to view the nut, 
surrounded by its arillus or Mace, which soon drops out, when the husk 
withers. : 
The Arillus (a remarkable prolongation of the seedstalk) is a sort of thick 
membrane, of a texture between horny and fleshy, much laciniated and 
anastomosing, and enveloping the nut so thickly, that it causes it to be 
"very uneven on the surface. The colour of it, when fresh, is a brilliant 
there a few apertures ; when dry, it becomes much more horny, of a 
yellow-brown colour, and very brittle. 
Nut broadly ovate, the shell very hard, rugged, dark brown, glossy, about 
half a line thick, pale and smooth within. This immediately envelopes 
the Seed (the Nutmeg as it is sold in the shops), which is of an oval or 
elliptical form, pale brown, quite smooth when first deprived of its 
shell, but soon becoming shrivelled, so as to have irregular vertical 
~~ lines or furrows on its surface. Its cuticle very thin. Its inner sub- 
stance or albumen is firm, but fleshy, whitish, but so traversed with dark 
brown veins which abound in oil, as to appear beautifully marbled. In 
_ @ cavity near the base of the albwmen, is lodged the small foliaceous 
