32 
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 
the Cimarron River. It did not appear to be affected there 
by the dryness of the cHmate, tliough the abundance of 
cacti, yucca and artemisia, together with other xerophytic 
vegetation, plainly indicated the beginning of the desert. 
The mullein has . - . . i lias in- 
original home, thouc-p i*^' part 
of Eurof^e. Some !< ■• has 
elapsed since man becaniu acq 
from the fact that the word mv. 
the Anglo-Saxon, and it is not i; 
forefathers were ac(juainted with : 
the English Giannel. 
Kooskia, Idaho. 
^HE nutmeg of commerce is the aromatic achene of 
one of several evergreen species included in the 
genus Myristica. It is a native of the Moluccas, but 
is also distributed to "the neighboring islands of the 
East Indian Archipelago, where it occurs in gregar- 
ious groups locally known as nutmeg-groves. During 
the ascendancy ' of the Dutch in the East Indies, it 
was the chief economic product of the Spice Islands, but its 
commercial value, like that of pepper, has declined consider- 
ably in recent times. It is, however, still valuable enough to 
make its cultivation profitable to the local agriculturist, for 
e^'-en in India it at present sells at from a charter to half an 
anna per nut, not to mention the scalet aril or mace, which 
is even more valuable than the nut itself. The evergreen 
forests of the moister regions of India and Burma contain 
several species of wild nutmeg. The Myristica longifolia and 
ABOUT NUTMEGS. 
