155, 156. 
MYRISTICA ornciNALis. 
True Nutmeg. 
DKECIA MONADELPHIA— Nat. Ohd. MYRISTICJE, Br. 
Gen. Char.— Masc. Cal. 0. Cor. campanulata, tri- (rarius 4-) fida. Fih^ 
mentum columnare. Antherce 6-10, connatse. F(em. Cal 0. Cor. cam. 
panulata, tri- (rarius 4-) fida, decidua. Stylus 0. Stigmata 2. Drupa 
nuce arillata raonosi^ermdi.—Willd. 
Myristica officinalis ; foliis oblongis acuminatis glabris subtus albidis 
nervis simplicibus pedunculis uni- paucifloris, perianthio urceolato. 
M. officinalis. Linn. Suppl p. 265.— G^ertn. Be Fruct. v. i. p. 194. t. 41. f. 1. 
M. moschata, Thunb. in Act. Holm. 1782. p. 45 ^Willd. Sp. PI. v. iv. p. 869'. 
M. aromatica, " Lam. Act. Par. 1788, p. 155. t. 5, 6, 7." 
La Muscade, Sonnerat, Voy. de la Nouv. Guin. p. 194. t. II6, 117, 118. 
Nux Myristica seu Pala, Rumph. Herb. Amhoin. v. ii. p. 14. t. 4. 
The trunk of the Nutmeg Tree rises to a height of about 30 feet, with many 
spreading branches, and has been compared to that of a Pear-tree: the 
Sar^reyish-brown, and tolerably smooth, abounding in a yellowish juice. 
Leaves slightly aromatic, almost destitute of stipule, from 5 to 6 inches 
long, oblong, approaching to elliptical, glabrous, obtuse at the base, acu- 
minate at the extremity, quite entire at the margin, dark green and some- 
what shining above, beneath whitish, but neither pulverulent nor downy; 
nerves parallel, simple, prominent, and of a brownish colour underneath! 
Petioh from half to three quarters of an inch in length, plane above. 
Of the Flowers; the male and. female are lateral and axillary, upon separate 
trees; but except by the blossom, it is not possible to distinguish one 
sex from another * The exterior, both of the male and female flowers 
and of the pedicels, is obsoletely clothed with reddish down. 
Male Flowers. 
Peduncles bearing the flowers in an imperfect kind of raceme, of from 3 to 
5 single blossoms, about an inch long, sometimes forked ; the part that 
• In Dr Roxbukgh's MSS. at the India House, the foUowing curious fact is re- 
lated : " In the Calcutta Botanic Garden, there are two trees of Nutmeg, which are se- 
ven years and a half old, and from 10 to 12 feet in height; for the two first years of 
their blossoming, they had borne only male flowers, but in the months of November 
And December 1804, they produced only female flowers, and these proved fertile." 
VOL. II. 
