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DOMESTIC BOTANY. 



" mace," the kernel being the nutmeg of commerce. M. fatua 

 is cultivated in Brazil ; the fruit of this is longer than the 

 true nutmeg, and is sold in this country under the name of 

 long nutmegs. M. oioha and other species cultivated in the 

 Philippines and Madagascar probably find their way to this 

 country for sale. An oil is extracted from the nuts called 

 oil of mace : the bark stains red. In Malacca and Penang the 

 nutmeg has been extensively cultivated, but during the last 

 few years the trees have been attacked with a disease which 

 has destroyed whole plantations for which no remedy has yet 

 been found. 



Myristica sehifera is a large tree 50 to 60 feet high, com- 

 mon in the forests of Guiana, North Brazil, and Panama. By 

 maceration of the nuts in water a solid oil is obtained which 

 is used in candle-making. 



The Sandalwood Family. 



(Santalaceje.) 



Trees or shrubs, rarely herbs ; leaves simple, alternate, or 

 nearly opposite, linear, lanceolate, ovate elliptical or small 

 stipule-like, as in the herb Thesium. Flowers small in spikes 

 or umbels or solitary, unisexual or bisexual. Fruit berry- 

 like, consisting of a hard shell containing a hard seed. 



About 100 species constitute this family. They are widely 

 distributed over both temperate and tropical regions, being 

 represented in this country by the small herbaceous plant 

 called toad-flax (^Thesium linophyllum\ in the East Indies and 

 islands by trees, and in Australia chiefly by shrubs. Few are 

 of importance medicinally or otherwise, except the valuable 

 wood called sandalwood. 



Sandalwood (^Santalum album). A small tree about 25 

 feet high, and seldom a foot in diameter, with nearly opposite 

 oblong leaves of a light colour. It is a native of various parts 

 of India, particularly Malabar and Coromandel, also Malay, 

 Fiji, and many islands of the Pacific Ocean. According to the 

 size and age of the tree the interior is of a dark or red colour, 



