ON  THE  CALIFORNIA  NUTMEG. 
501 
this  variety  of  nutmeg  had  been  known  to  him  for  forty  years,  the 
first  specimen  he  had  seen  having  been  brought  from  Calcutta  by 
Dr.  Bullock,  so  long  ago  as  the  period  mentioned. 
Dr.  Wood,  in  the  Dispensatory,  has  reference  to  the  same  article, 
when  mentioning  a  kind  of  nutmeg  which  is  distinguished  from 
the  common  kind  by  its  "  much  greater  length,  elliptical  shape," 
&c,  and  states  that  it  has  been  called  wild nutmeg,  the  other  being 
designated  as  cultivated  nutmeg.  In  fact,  it  would  seem  that 
from  time  to  time  it  has  appeared  as  an  article  of  commerce  in 
small  quantities,  and  had  been  overlooked  by  those  who  have  re- 
cently encountered  it  under  the  promising  title  of  California  nut- 
meg. It  certainly  has  been  brought  from  that  new  section  of  the 
United  Slates  in  company  with  the  fruit  that  resembles  it,  and  the 
only  solution  that  presents  itself  to  me  of  its  appearance  there,  is 
that  it  may  have  been  introduced  by  the  Chinese  who  have  sought 
the  Pacific  coast  in  quest  of  gold. 
By  referring  to  the  section  upon  nutmegs,  in  the  last  edition  of 
Pereira's  Elements  of  Materia  Medica,  we  find  that  the  fruit  under 
consideration  has  long  attracted  scientific  cu- 
riosity ;  it  is  described  and  figured  as  the  long  or 
wild  nutmeg.  By  the  author  mentioned,  it  is  at- 
tributed to  the  Myristica  fatua,  Houtt,  Blume. 
It  is  the  Nux  moschata  fructu  oblongo  of  C. 
Bauhin,  and  the  Nux  myristica  mas  of  Clusius, 
a  native  of  the  Banda  Isles. 
The  fruit  of  this  plant  is  "  elongated,  ellip- 
soidal rusty  tomentose.  Seed  elongated,  ellip- 
soidal, covered  by  a  membranaceo-fleshy,  orange 
colored,  insipid  arilloid,  (mace) ;  outer  coat  (testa) 
dark  brown,  hard;  nucleus  acerb,  slightly  aro- 
Wild  nutmeg. 
matic,  grayish  ash  colored,  cylindrical,  ellipsoidal,  rugous,  marked 
by  a  furrow."  This  description  is  accurate,  with  the  exception  of 
the  flavor,  both  of  the  mace  and  kernel  of  the  fruit,  which  may, 
however,  vary  in  the  samples  that  at  different  periods  have  been 
brought. 
Hoping  that  the  foregoing  communication  will  satisfy  you  of 
the  correctness  of  my  conclusion, 
I  remain  very  sincerely, 
Your  friend,  J.  Carson, 
