15 
llie genus Eupomatia is however an exception to this, hut the great number 
of the carpels of that genus distinguishes even it from the two last-mentioned 
alliances. Magnoliaceae are probably the most immediately akin to Ranuncu- 
lacese, and Dilleniacese to Pittosporacese ; while Schizandrese tend towards the 
far distant (?) Menispermacese ; and Anonacese themselves assume something 
the state of Berberaceae in the genus Bocagea. 
Order VI. MYRISTICACE^. The Nutmeg Tribe. 
Myristice^, i?. Bmcn, Protir. 399. (1810). Bartling, Ord. Nat. 244. (1830); Martins 
Conspectus, No. 78. (1835). 
Essential Character. — Flowers completely unisexual. Calyx trifid, rarely qua- 
drifid; with valvular aestivation. Male. Filaments either separate or completely united 
in a cylinder. Anthers 3-12, 2-celled, turned outwards, and bursting longitudinally : either 
connate or distinct. Female. Calyx deciduous. Ovary superior, sessile, with a single 
erect ovule ; style very short ; stigma somewhat lobed. Fruit baccate, dehiscent, 2-valved. 
Seed nut-like, enveloped in a many-parted aril ; albumen ruminate, between fatty and 
fleshy ; embryo small ; cotyledons foliaceous ; radicle inferior ; plumule conspicuous. — 
Tropical trees, often yielding a red juice. Leaves alternate, without stipules, not dotted, 
quite entire, stalked, coriaceous ; usually, when full grown, covered beneath with a close 
down. Inflorescence dcsixWdixy ox terminal, in racemes, glomerules, or panicles; the flowers 
often each with one short cucullate bract. Calyx coriaceous, mostly downy outside, with 
the hairs sometimes stellate, smooth in the inside. — R. Br. chiefly. 
Affinities. Usually placed, on account of their apetalous flowers, in the 
vicinity of Lauracese, from which they are distinguished by the structure of 
their calyx, anthers and fruit. Brown places them between Proteaceae and 
Lauracese, remarking, that they are not closely akin to any other order. They 
appear, however, to be in reality an apetalous form of Anonacese, with which their 
trimerous flowers, arillate seed, ruminated albumen, minute embryo, and sen- 
sible properties almost identify them ; to say nothing of their resemblance to the 
Schizandreous section of Anonaceae in their unisexual flowers. Bocagea, which is 
usually considered as a connecting link between the latter and Berberacese, 
must also be looked upon as one of the cases of transition from Anonacese to 
Virola among Myristicacese . Another and much more interesting instance is 
afforded by Wallich’s Anonaceous genus Ryalostemma, which would be al- 
most an involucrated Myristica if it had an aril. That plant has unisexual 
apetalous flowers, and a trifid calyx surrounded by an involucre of six 
subulate bracts. 
This view was suggested in the first edition of the present work, and about 
the same time by Bartling, who however is silent as to the motives which led 
him to bring Myristicacese and Anonacese into contact. 
Geography. Natives exclusively of the tropics of India and America. 
Properties. The bark abounds in an acrid juice, which is viscid and stains 
red ; the rind of the fruit is caustic ; the aril and albumen, the former known 
under the name of Mace, and the latter of Nutmeg, are important aromatics, 
abounding in a fixed oil of a consistence analogous to fat, which, in a species 
called Virola sebifera, is so copious as to be extracted easily by immersing the 
seeds in hot water. The common Nutmeg is the produce of Myristica mos- 
chata ; but an aromatic fruit is also borne by other species. The Nutmeg of 
Santa Feis the Myristica Otoba. Humh. Cinch. For. p. 29. Eng. ed. Ano- 
ther species is the M. tomentosa, and a third the M. officinalis, which is 
reckoned in Brazil an energetic tonic. Fee. 
GENERA. 
Myristica, L. Knema, Lour. 
Virola, Aubl. Horsfleldia, Willd. 
