PLANT-LORE OF SHAKESPEARE 
190 
(2) I must have . . . Nutmegs Seven. — Winter's Tale , iv. 3, 50. 
(3) Armado. The omnipotent Mars, of lances the almighty, 
Gave Hector a gift— 
Dumain. A gilt Nutmeg. 
Love's Labour's Lost , v. 2, 650. 
Gerard gives a very fair description of the Nutmeg tree under 
the names of Nux moschata or Mynstica; but it is certain that 
he had not any personal knowledge of the tree, which was not 
introduced into England or Europe for nearly 200 years after. 
Shakespeare could only have known the imported Nut and the 
Mace which covers the Nut inside the shell, and they were 
imported long before his time. Chaucer speaks of it as— 
“ Notemygge to put in ale 
Whether it be moist or stale, 
Or for to lay in cofre.”— Sir Thopas. 
And in another poem we have— 
“And trees ther were gret foisoun, 
That beren notes in her sesoun. 
Such as men Notemygges calle 
Thatswote of savour ben withalle.”— Romaunt of the Rose. 
The Nutmeg tree (Myrista officinalis ) “ is a native of the 
Molucca or Spice Islands, principally confined to that group 
denominated the Islands of Banda, lying in lat. 4 0 30' south; 
and there it bears both blossom and fruit at all seasons of the 
year ” (“ Bot. Mag.,” 2756, with a full history of the spice, and 
plates of the tree and fruit). 
